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A     DIARY 


KEPT   WHILE   WITH   THE 


Peary  Arctic  Expedition  of  1896 


By    B.     HOPPIN. 


The  Peary  Arctic  Expedition  of  1896  had  been  arranged 
for,  and  the  place  and  date  of  sailing  had  been  fixed  upon 
(Sydney,  Cape  Breton  Island,  Nova  Scotia),,  perhaps  as 
early  as  the  evening  of  Sunday,  July  12th.  Some  of  the 
party  had  come  to  Sydney  by  Thursday,  July  9th,  and  our 
immediate  party  had  come  from  Baddeck,  Cape  Breton 
Island,  Nova  Scotia,  on  the  night  of  July  loth.  Some  of 
the  baggage  of  this  party  had  come  to  Sydney  nearly  a 
week  before,  on  July  6th  and  7th.  Those  of  the  party  who 
came  previously  were  Mr.  Russell  W.  Porter,  Jr.,  Mr. 
Putnam  of  Washington,  D.  C,  of  the  U.  S.  Coast  and 
Geodetic  Survey,  who  had  been  detailed  by  the  U.  S.  gov- 
ernment to  make  pendulum  observations  ;  and  Mr.  Hugh 
Lee  of  Meriden,  Conn.,  who  had  been  with  Lieut.  Peary 
on  a  former  trip. 

The  weather  had  been  warm  and  the  foliage  of  the  coun- 
try around  Sydney  was  fully  out,  strawberries  were  in 
bearing,   and   the  evergreens  were  dark.     On  Sunday  the 


282122 


o-^% 


.W 


1 2th  July  we  went  and  found  a  spring  in  a  meadow  said 
to  have  curative  powers. 

The  baggage  of  the  party  from  Cornell  University  was 
in  Sydney,  stored  in  a  building  on  Harrington's  wharf,  and 
the  party  itself  came  soon  afterwards.  Professor  Tarr  was 
in  charge,  Professor  Gill,  assistant,  and  students  Mr. 
Watson,  Mr.  Kindle,  Mr.  Martin  and  Mr.  Bonesteel. 

The  School  of  Technology  of  Boston  was  represented 
by  Professor  Alfred  Burton,  Prof.  George  Barton  and  Mr. 
Russell  W.  Porter ;  besides  these  were  Mr.  Phillips,  of 
Harvard  University,  and  Mr.  Dodge  of  New  Hampshire. 

The  chief  officers  of  the  Expedition  were  Lieut.  R.  E. 
Peary,  U.  S.  N.  commanding,  and  Captain  John  Bartlett,  of 
Brigus,  Newfoundland,  in  command  of  the  steamer  Hope. 
Mr.  Operti,  an  artist  of  New  York,  also  accompanied  the 
Expedition,  and  Mr.  M.  A.  Hansen,  of  the  American 
Museum  of  Natural  History,  Central  Park,  New  York, 
a  colored  gentleman  of  African  connections  who  had  been 
to  the  Arctic  Regions  twice  before  with  Lieut.  Peary,  and 
Mr.  Hugh  J.  Lee  of,  Meriden,  Ct.,  who  had  been  with 
Lieut.  Peary  before.  From  Baddeck,  Cape  Breton,  Nova 
Scotia,  came  Mr.  Alexander  H.  Sutherland  ;  Mr.  George 
Hollifield,  of  Halifax  ;  and  Mr.  Benjamin  Hoppin,  of 
New  Haven,  Conn. 

The  Expedition  had  interest  taken  in  it  by  the  American 
Museum,  Museum  of  Natural  History,  New  York,  Central 
Park,  77th  St.  and  8th  avenue,  and  was  aided  by  Mr. 
Morris  K.  Jessup,  President  of  the  Museum.. 

The  elections  had  just  passed  in  Canada,  the  parties  had 
met  in  an  interesting  manner. 

The  Sydney  time  could  be  found  at  Sydney.  There  was 
a  heavy  rain  on  one  of  the  first  days  of  the  week,  but  fair 
weather  had  set  in. 


One  object  of  the  Expedition  was  the  obtaining  of  a 
meteorite  known  since  1816.  It  is  said  also  that  this  had 
been  seen  by  Captain  Parry  some  time  before.  The  party 
was  to  have  a  steam  vessel  called  the  Hope,  which  had 
been  at  St.  Johns,  Newfoundland. 

The  names  of  the  Captain  and  crew  of  the  S.  S.  "  Hope  "  were  : 

John  Bartlett Brigus,  Newfoundland Captain. 

William  Smith  ..'. Cupids,  "  


John  Pomeroy Catalina, 

James  Bradbury St.  Johns, 

Frederick  Martin ...         " 

Henry  W.  Perry Brigus, 

Thomas  Chalker " 

Frank   Hall St.  Johns, 

James  Way " 

Aubrey  Hicks Catalina, 

John  Walsh St.  Johns, 

William   Roust 

Thomas  Shepherd " 

George  Pike " 

William  Bryan ..Outer  Cove, 

Ananias  King St.  Johns, 

Caleb  Ladrew 

William  Godley 


1st  officer. 

2d  officer. 

.Chief  Engineer. 
Second  Engineer. 
...Chief  Steward- 
Seaman. 


...  Oiler. 
Fireman. 


Assistant  Steward. 

Carpenter. 

Cook. 


The  names  of  the  party  were  as  follows  : 

Lieut.  R.  E.  Peary,  Washington,  D.  C,  Commanding. 

Albert  Operti,  New  York  City,  Artist. 

J.  D.  Figgins,  Falls  Church,  Va.,  Taxidermist. 

Hugh  J.  Lee,  Meriden.  Conn.,  Interpreter. 

Matthew  A.  Hansen,  American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  New  York 
City,  assisting. 

Alexander  Hugh  Sutherland.  Baddeck,  Cape  Breton  Island,  Photo- 
graphy. 

George  Hollifield,  of  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  and  Baddeck,  Cape  Breton, 
Photography. 

Benjamin  Hoppin,  New  Haven,  Conn.,  Mineralogy. 


— 4— 

Party  from  Cornell  University  going  to  near  Devil's  Thumb  Bay, 
North  Greenland  : 

R.  S.  Tarr,  Professor  of  Dynamic  Geology  and   Physical  Geography, 

Commanding,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. 
A.   C.   Gill,   Professor  of    Mineralogy   and    Petrography,   Assistant  in 

Command,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. 
T.  L.  Watson,  student  (Geology),  Ithaca,  N.  Y. 
E.  M.  Kindle,        "        (Palaeontolog}'),  Franklin,  Nt-¥. ,4^<:^^t.-*<^^»^ 
J.  A.  Bonesteel,     "        (Geology),  Franklinville,  N.  Y. 
J.  O.  Martin,  "        (Entomology),  Ithaca,  N.  Y. 

Party  from  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  going  to 
Omenak,  near  the  Noursoak  Peninsula,  North  Greenland  : 

Alfred  E.  Burton,  Professor  Mass.   Institute  of  Technology,  Boston, 

Mass. 
George  H.  Barton,  Professor  Agriculture  Mass.  Institute  of  Technology, 

Boston,  Mass. 
Russell  W.  Porter,  student  Architecture,  Mass.  Institute  of  Technology, 

Springfield,  Vt. 

Besides  these : 
G.  R.  Putnam,  U.  S.  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey,  Washington,  D.  C. 
John  E.  Phillips,  student  in  Harvard  College  (Geology),  North  Beverly, 

Mass. 
Arthur  M.  Dodge,  Hampton  Falls,  N.  H. 

A  party  was  to  be  landed  at  Hudson  Strait  for  prospect- 
ing for  mica  — by  White  Bay,  S.  W.  coast  of  country  near 
Cockburn  Land,  or  Baffin  Land — consisting  of  : 

George    Bartlett Brigus,   Newfoundland- Commander. 

Samuel  Breaker Brigus,  "  Cook. 

Patrick  White -Brigus,  "  Assistant. 

Michael    Leary Turk's  Gut,  " 

Aaron    Reed Salmon  Cove,  " 

Mr.  Taylor .St.  Johns, 

John  Eddie St.  Johns,  " 

A.  Penny Bull  Cove, 


— 5— 

Samuel  Breaker  afterwards  came  on  to  the  North  with 
the  Cornell  party. 

Mr.  George  Bartlett's  party  was  fitted  out  by  his  father 
(Captain  Bartlett  of  S.  S.  Hope),  to  find  mica  which  was 
reported  at  Hudson  Strait.  He  expected  to  take  Esqui- 
maux to  show  him  the  places  where  it  lies,  but  there  were 
none  there,  and  mica  could  not  be  found  in  such  a  great 
country  without  guides,  so  the  search  was  given  up.  It 
was  a  great  disappointment  as  well  as  loss.  Mr.  Bartlett 
went  instead  to  Atanikerdluk,  near  the  Waigat  Channel, 
Disco  Island,  to  gather  fossils,  where  he  found  and  brought 
home  some  tons  of  them.* 

July  15th,  Wednesday — Went  on  board  S.  S.   Hope.     The 

ship  set  sail  under  favorable  auspices,  with  cheers 

and   good    wishes    from    many   gathered    on   the 

wharf. 

July  1 6th,  Thursday — Passed  Cape  Ray  Light. 

July  17th,  Friday— Fine  day — got  along  the  Newfoundland 

coast  to  a  little   south  of  Cow  Head  or  Fort  au 

Choix — comparing  chronometers — one  gentleman, 

Mr.   Operti,  got  up  to   see   the   sun  rise — it  was 

quite  cold  in  the  morning — we  are  about  20  miles 

west   of  Newfoundland   coast,    near   the    Bay    of 

Islands. 

July    1 8th,    Saturday — A    pleasant    day    in    the    morning. 

Passed  Amour  Light — saw  the  pasturage  with  the 

Lighthouse,   near   where  was   the    wreck    of    the 

*  The  S.  S.  Hope,  which  the  party  is  to  have,  is  a  steam  vessel  of  about 
350  tons,  with  three  masts.  It  also  has  a  sailing  rig.  It  had  been  for 
sometime  at  St.  Johns,  Newfoundland.  It  had  come  into  Sydney  Har- 
bor to  the  International  Pier  and  Harrington's  Wharf,  from  New  Camp- 
bellton  (Kelley's  Cove),  where  it  had  taken  in  coal.  Beams  of  hard 
wood  had  been  brought  alongside  of  the  wharf,  near  the  ship,  and  a  set  of 
iron  rails,  probably  for  moving  the  meteorite. 


— 6— 

•*  Lily  " — about  noon  eight  small  icebergs  in  sight, 
on  the  starboard  side  toward  the  bow.  Passed 
Belle  Isle — patches  of  snow  on  the  mountains  of 
Labrador.  Wind  from  the  southwest.  Ship  quite 
steady.  All  at  dinner.  Talked  of  vitascope,  kine- 
toscope,  and  photography.  It  would  be  interest- 
ing to  observe  solidity  of  ice  at  the  bottom  of 
glaciers. 

July  19th,  Sunday — Off  Labrador — we  were  two  hours  in 
the  ice.  Bright  day — some  parts  of  the  Labra- 
dor coast  visible,  rather  dark  colored  rocks,  spotted 
I  should  think,  with  lighter  colored  rocks — at  7.30. 
Passed  through  ice  from  about  9>4  o'clock  to  11 
or  so — came  not  far  from  Hamilton  Inlet  at  11 
o'clock  ;  we  were  about  fifteen  miles  from  the 
coast.* 

July  20th,  Monday — Arrived  at  Turnavik  about  9^4  o'clock 
— a  small  fishing  station — Mr.  William  Bartlett. 
The  mail  steamer  sometimes  stops  here,  giving 
an  opportunity  to  send  letters.  We  forwarded 
some.     Left  here  about  12  o'clock. 

July  2Tst,  Tuesday — Along  the  coast  of  Labrador — Cape 
Mugford — going  through  a  good  deal  of  ice. 

July  22d,  Wednesday — Labrador  coast — at  noon,  N.  Lati- 
tude 59°  22". 

July  23d,  Thursday — In  the  morning  near  Cape  Chidley. 
Saw  bears  early  in  the  day,  one  female  and  two 
small  cubs— Professor  Tarr  saw  them  first  about 
daylight — several  of  our  men  fired  shots — she  got 
over  a  ridge  of  ice  with  her  cubs.  They  licked  the 
wounds  of  the  mother  and  she  slid  into  the  water, 

*  The  coast  of  Labrador  became  familiar  during  my  cruise  on  the 
Miranda,  and  the  rescue  by  the  Rigel,  in  1894. 


— 7— 

but  was  secured  and  brought  on  board  afterwards. 
The  cubs  were  lassoed  and  drawn  on  to  the  ship. 

July  24th,  Friday — The  steamer  worked  through  the  ice  in 
Hudson  Strait,  which  about  this  time  was  rather 
thick  in  some  places,  then  reached  open  water. 

July  25th,  Saturday — At  about  9  o'clock  got  to  Big  Island, 
or  the  largest  of  the  Upper  Savage  Islands — Pro- 
fessor Burton,  Messrs.  Porter,  Phillips,  Putnam, 
Dodge,  Watson  and  Bonesteel,  went  ashore  for 
two  days.  A  house  on  Big  Island — one  formerly 
used  by  persons  surveying  for  a  steamer  line  from 
England  to  Port  Churchill. 

Went  to  north  shore  of  White  Strait  in  the  even- 
ing— some  of  us  went  on  shore — saw  ridges  of  hills 
— Mr.  Operti  and  Mr.  Hugh  Lee  made  a  cairn,  an 
American  man  as  it  is  called,  on  a  hill — the  hills 
mostly  stony  and  rocky — some  vegetation,  lichens, 
mosses,  and  a  few  grasses  and  some  flowers,  the 
flowers  in  bloom.* 

Rocks  on  the  shore.  Small  lakelets  back,  look- 
ing as  if  they  were  continuations  of  the  sea.     The 

*  In  regard  to  Greenland,  Scandinavian  botanists  have  found  386 
specimens  of  Greenland  plants.  Professor  Gray  says  the  east  side  of 
Greenland  has  European  plants,  while  on  the  west  side  there  is  a  mix- 
ture of  American  plants.  Then  there  are  pre-glacial,  carboniferous, 
upper  middle  and  lower  cretaceous,  tertiary,  coniferous  and  miocene 
fossils,  showing  a  growth  of  luxurious  vegetation  in  Greenland  in 
former  periods  ;  the  richest  locality  of  the  large  middle  cretaceous 
flora  is  at  Atanikerdluk,  near  the  Waigat  Channel,  Disco  Island.  Dr. 
Kane,  Dr.  Hayes  and  other  explorers  have  made  large  contributions  to 
the  lists  of  Labrador  and  Greenland  flora  in  the  past  and  present,  and 
have  brought  hundreds  of  specimens  to  our  large  museums — Dr. 
Joseph  D.  Hooker  found  the  whole  number  of  specimens  of  snow 
plants  known  within  the  Arctic  circle  to  be  770 — Giesecke's  Catalogue, 
1832,  enumerated  many  species. 


sea    was  pleasant  and    mild,  the  sun    was  bright 
until  about  9  o'clock  several  times. 

July  26th,  Sunday — At  White  Strait — on  shore  in  the  morn- 
ing and  evening — all  had  rest.  Passed  a  rock  in 
the  middle  of  White  Strait  with  four  fathoms  of 
water  on  it  at  high  water,  i  p.  m. 

July  27th,  Monday — Came  to  the  shore  at  Ashe  Inlet,  at 
Big  Island — found  the  party  we  had  left  there 
safe.  Some  observations  had  been  taken.  It  was 
foggy  in  the  morning.  Some  rain  falling.  Ther- 
mometer not  very  high.  Barometer  about  station- 
ary. 

Terra  Nivea  or  Meta  Incognita  lies  on  the  north- 
ern side  of  Fludson  Strait.  It  was  probably  first 
visited  by  the  Portuguese  or  possibly  a  fisherman, 
the  Portuguese  discoveries  in  this  neighborhood 
dating  perhaps  about  the  time  of  the  Cortoreal, 
after  Columbus.  Before  this  there  had  been  inter- 
est in  navigation  and  discovery.  The  Azores  had 
been  discovered  and  added  to  Portugal.  The  ideas 
or  maps  of  a  geographer  called  Pomponius  Mela 
had  been  studied.  The  early  fisheries  of  the  French 
may  have  embraced  the  banks  of  Newfoundland. 
The  steamer  Arctic  was  lost  near  here.  The 
entrance  of  Hudson  Strait  is  about  thirty  miles  or 
something  more  wide  in  the  narrowest  part.  The 
shores  of  Resolution  Island  rising  to  the  north  of 
the  Strait  are  rather  bold — the  other  shores  not 
quite  so  high.  At  Big  Island  where  we  came  first 
there  was  not  much  ice.  Near  Big  Island  there 
were  some  eider  ducks.  The  male  of  the  eider 
duck,  the  king  eider,  has  a  black  head  and  whit- 
ish body.     The  female  seemed  to  be  of   a  color 


approaching  a  brownish  black.  It  is  said  that  the 
male  bird  separates  from  the  female  bird  after 
breeding  time,  and  that  the  males  go  in  coveys. 

The  voyage  of  Henry  Hudson  in  1610,  A.  D., 
followed  the  Portuguese — the  old  name  of  Hud- 
son Bay  or  Ungava  Bay  was  the  Baia  de  Mosotros. 
There  seems  to  be  a  current  of  one  or  two  knots 
an  hour  setting  to  the  south  off  the  coast  of  Lab- 
rador, and  it  is  said  that  there  is  food  for  codfish 
there,  and  that  the  cod  run  in  shoals  in  this  cur- 
rent. In  the  southern  part  of  Labrador  the  cod, 
the  green  ones,  are  sometimes  in  shoals  almost 
mingled  with  black  fish  or  rock  fish.  The  cod 
come  along  in  shore  often. 

The  temperature  of  Hudson  Strait  was,  in  July, 
about  30  degrees  or  so.  The  presence  of  ice 
might  have  added  chilliness  to  the  atmosphere. 
The  bears  spoken  of  above  were  about  8  miles  or 
so  off  the  shore,  quite  close  to  the  ship,  on  a  pan 
of  ice.  They  are  said  to  swim  quite  well.  They 
have  a  kind  of  long  silvery  fur.  The  paws  are 
large.  The  eyes  of  the  one  killed  seemed  to  have 
almost  a  mild  expression. 

The  cakes  of  ice  seen  here  are  ten  feet  or  so  in 
thickness,  while  the  anchor  or  shore  ice  seems 
now  to  be  about  15  or  20  feet  thick.  In  some 
places  near  the  shore  at  "  Hope  Harbor,"  there  are 
floating  pieces  of  ice.  The  shore  ice  is  much 
honey-combed  and  not  very  tough.  The  long 
ridges  of  hills  come  down  to  the  shore,  running 
rather  north  and  soutli  in  direction.  There  are 
some  small  islands  off  the  coast.  We  lay  in 
White  Strait  on  Saturday,  and  the  western  side  of 


the  Strait  was  not  free  from  fog  all  the  way. 
Wind  W.  to  W.S.E.  The  whistle  was  blown  on 
Sunday  as  a  signal  to  come  on  board  early. 

The  party  came  out  about  noon,  having  endeav- 
ored to  get  an  observation  of  the  sun.  We  saw 
the  house  left  by  the  party  that  surveyed  for  the 
proposed  line  of  steamers  to  Port  Churchill.  The 
house  is  on  the  east  side  of  the  inlet,  Ashe  Inlet. 
Ashe  Inlet  is  on  the  south  side  of  Big  Island,  near 
its  east  point.  The  party  we  left  had  had  a  storm 
and  their  boat,  a  whale  boat,  had  one  rope  with 
which  it  was  fastened,  loosened  and  been  thrown 
against  the  rocks,  some  planks  being  broken. 
Professor  Burton  had  incurred  some  danger  in 
saving  the  boat.  They  had  seen  a  deer,  reindeer  ?, 
with  a  fawn  color,  of  fawn  yellow,  with  gold  color. 
Walrus  and  deer  bones  were  found,  also  an  Esqui- 
mau skeleton.  They  left  a  mark  at  the  position  of 
observing,  and  writing  on  the  walls  of  the  house. 
The  ceiling  had  been  taken  away  by  the  first 
occupants — they  passed  some  time  in  exploration 
and  saw  some  eider  ducks.  Ashe  Inlet  seemed 
to  be  a  good  place  for  a  steamship  to  go  into 
and  come  out  of.  There  was  almost  no  snow 
near  the  shore,  but  stretches  of  it  on  the  hills, 
while  on  the  north  shore  of  White  Sound  there 
was  an  ice  foot  nearly  all  the  way,  and  anchor  ice, 
a  good  deal  of  anchor  ice — on  Sunday  evening  a 
cake  about  30  feet  long  came  down  on  the  ship, 
and  the  ship  moving  her  engine  we  escaped. 
There  was  another  smaller  piece  of  ice  also  there, 
and  more  pieces  near  the  shore  of  the  strait  about 
ten  feet  high  out  of  the  water,  some  moving  on, 


and  some  aground.     Also  pans  of   ice  more  sta- 
tionary. 

Left  Big  Island  in  the  morning  or  near  noon. 
In  the  evening  we  stopped  at  Noodla,  where  were 
six  families  of  Esquimaux  counting  ^t,  people. 

July  28th,  Tuesday — At  noon  we  were  off  the  south  part 
of  Meta  Incognita  or  off  Resolution  Island. 

July  29th,  Wednesday — Off  the  eastern  shore  of  Resolu- 
tion Island,  I  think,  not  far  from  Cape  Warwick. 
A  bold  cliff  or  bluff  about  200  feet  high  was  seen, 
reddish  in  color. 

July  30th,  Thursday — In  the  afternoon  sighted  probably 
Lady  Franklin  Island,  apparently  opposite  the 
land,  about  two  miles  long,  with  heavy  ice  bluffs 
in  front  and  not  very  far  from  it.  Had  snow  off 
the  mouth  of  Cumberland  Gulf. 

July  31st,  Friday — In  the  morning  about  6  o'clock,  saw 
Cape  Mercy,  the  southern  point  of  Cumberland 
Peninsula  and  the  northern  limit  of  Cumberland 
Sound — we  passed  along  the  side  of  the  ice  pack; 
but  could  not  get  in,  the  ice  making  a  large  ice 
floe,  with  bergs  about  fifty  feet  long.  On  the 
east  of  Cape  Mercy  we  passed  through  some  ice 
about  twenty  feet  thick,  blue  on  the  bottom. 
Heavy  ice  all  the  way. 

August  I  St,  Saturday — On  this  day  about  7  o'clock  in  the 
evening  crossed  the  Arctic  Circle.  Father  Nep- 
tune came  on  board,  a  man  dressed  with  a  hump 
on  his  back  with  a  dipper  of  some  soft  sub- 
stance. The  land,  Baffin  Land,  was  not  very  far 
distant  on  the  left.  It  was  foggy,  but  it  did  not 
interfere  with  our  progress,  the  fog  toward  the 
southwest   being   the    heaviest.      The  vessel    was 


steaming  along  at  a  pretty  good  rate,  perhaps  8 
knots  or  so — last  night  or  the  night  before,  it  lay- 
to  for  the  first  time — no  ic6  or  icebergs  to-day. 
The  clouds  covered  over  almost  everything  in  the 
distance.  There  were  some  grampuses  in  sight, 
and  about  this  time  or  before  a  walrus  was  said  to 
have  been  seen.  The  weather  not  very  cold,  ther- 
ermometer  about  38  degrees  in  the  afternoon — the 
evening  before  it  was  about  32  or  34  degrees.  It 
was  39°  near  the  Arctic  Circle.  Some  ice  in  the 
morning.  Tried  an  observation  with  artificial 
horizon.  10  o'clock  evening — temperature  of  air 
39°,  water  33°. 

August  2d,  Sunday — At  noon  near  the  district  of  Egedes- 
minde.  Ice.  In  the  afternoon  about  5  o'clock 
came  to  Godhaven,  on  Disco  Island,  the  capital  of 
North  Greenland.  An  Inspector  resides  here. 
The  Inspector  is  Herr  Andersen. 

Before  the  ship  reached  the  harbor  Governor 
Almquist,  an  assistant  of  Inspector  Andersen, 
came  on  board.  At  Godhavn  many  of  our  party 
were  introduced  to  Inspector  Andersen,  his  wife, 
and  others  of  the  family — Fired  a  salute.* 

August  3d,  Monday — In  the  morning  Prof.  Tarr,  Prof.  Gill, 
with  students  of  Cornell  University  and  others, 
went  about  three  miles  on  the  Island  of  Disco — 
zeolytes  to  be  found.  Prof.  Burton,  and  others, 
also  went  on   shore  at  one  time.     Capt.   Bartlett 

*  There  are  two  Inspectorates,  or  administrative  districts,  in  Green- 
land, Northern  and  Southern.  The  Inspector  for  North  Greenland  lives 
at  the  capital,  Godhavn.  The  Inspector  for  South  Greenland  lives  at 
the  capital,  Godhaab. 

Danish  Greenland — Dr.  Rink. 


—  13— 

was  here  before  and  made  a  cairn  of  stones 
still  to  be  seen  above  the  village.  There  were 
then  rolling  stones  which  came  near,  but  were 
stopped  or  avoided.  Some  of  the  cliffs  opposite 
Godhavn  were  called  the  twelve  apostles — one  pin- 
nacle only  is  now  left.  A  ship  or  steamer,  the  Cas- 
tor, was  looked  for  from  Denmark.  Another  boat 
came  later.  Temperature  of  the  water  near  the 
entrance  of  the  Waigat  Strait  or  Channel,  between 
the  island  of  Disco  and  the  mainland,  8^  o'clock 
in  the  evening,  about  42  degrees.  Left  Disco  at 
about  three  in  the  afternoon.  There  was  fog  in 
the  morning,  which  detained  us.  Our  course  was 
to  the  south  of  Godhavn.  There  were  many  ice- 
bergs in  the  sea  near  to  the  entrance  of  Waigat 
Sound.  Seventy  were  counted  in  the  evening.  I 
counted  forty  near  Waigat  Channel. 
August  4th,  Tuesday— Stopped  for  a  time  at  Sarkak  and 
went  on.  This  morning  we  saw  a  beautiful 
line  of  coast,  reddish  clay  with  the  water  red- 
dish in  the  distance  near  the  Waigat,  about  a 
mile  or  so  south  of  Atanikerdluk.  There  were 
icebergs  in  the  channel.  There  is  quite  a  high 
mountain  to  the  S.E.  of  Atanikerdluk,  while  a 
little  peninsula  stretches  out  in  the  Waigat,  mak- 
ing a  small  harbor.  The  isthmus  is  about  an 
eighth  of  a  mile  across.  We  left  Mr.  George 
Bartlett  and  his  party  there,  arriving  at  Atani- 
kerdluk about  8  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Two 
tents  were  left  with  him,  and  about  twelve  Esqui- 
maux came  there  and  helped  him  somewhat  in 
gathering  fossils.  I  walked  to  the  south  of  the 
peninsula  and   found   small  fossils.     At  a  height 


—  14— 

the  soil  became  friable  with  fresh  pieces  of  coal. 
The  whistle  of  the  steamer  called  all  aboard. 
Temperature  of  the  water  near  the  entrance  of 
the  Waigat  strait  or  channel  between  the  island 
of  Disco  and  the  mainland  at  8^  o'clock  in  the 
evening,  42°. 

August  5th,  Wednesday — Waigat  channel  has  high  shores 
on  both  sides.  On  the  right  going  north  are 
places  named  on  the  chart,  Ate,  etc.  The  left  of 
the  Waigat  (going  north)  has  mountains  with 
snow  on  the  tops  of  them.  It  is  said  there  are 
seals  in  this  channel.  The  ice  glistened  in  the 
sun  as  we  approached  the  north,  and  a  kind  of 
bright,  white  light  rested  on  the  tops  of  the  moun- 
tains. Then  at  5  p.  m.  we  reached  Omenak  or 
Umenak  Bay,  Jacob's  Bay,  or  North  East  Bay. 
When  we  passed  Niakornat  about  seven  kayaks 
came  near  the  ship  and  the  ship  slowed.  One 
kayaker  was  taken  on  board  as  pilot.  As  we 
came  to  the  eastern  side  of  the  peninsula  of 
Niakornat  people  appeared  on  the  cliffs.  Gov- 
ernor Hendricksen,  of  Niakornat,  came,  in  a  boat 
and  made  a  visit  to  the  ship,  and  courtesies  were 
exchanged.  Articles  of  interest  were  bought,  of 
antiquity  or  curiosity.  Fish,  birds  and  a  haunch 
of  venison  also.* 

August  6th,  Thursday — At  Omenak  is  a  settlement  of  that 
name  where  we  left  Prof.  Barton  and  his  party  of 
the  School   of   Technology   in   Boston    and   they 

*  I  was  here  at  Niakornat  for  several  days  in  1893,  and  also  at 
Omenak  Fjord,  while  on  the  Zeta,  which  Expedition  was  organized  by 
that  well  known  commander,  Captain  James  A.  Farquhar  of  Halifax, 
Nova  Scotia,  and  was  the  first  pleasure  trip  ever  made  to  Greenland. 


~i5— 

engaged  a  house.  The  assistant  Governor  of 
Umanak  and  the  Captain  of  the  Brig  Constantia 
of  Copenhagen,  which  was  lying  here,  came  on 
board.  Weighed  anchor  9.45  a.  m.,  taking  Brig 
Constantia  in  tow,  and  parted  with  her  at  10.30. 
At  Omenak  an  iceberg  came  near  the  stern  of  our 
ship,  and  the  boats  on  the  side  were  taken  out  of 
its  way.  When  we  first  came  to  Omenak  we  made 
fast  to  an  iceberg,  but  afterward  went  inside  the 
harbor  as  the  ice  was  dangerous.  Extensive 
glaciers  here. 
August  7th,  Friday — At  Upernavik— passing  close  to  an 
island  with  a  beacon  on  it  —  Governor  Herr 
Knudsen  and  the  Assistant  Governor,  Herr  Ohl- 
sen,  came  on  board  the  Hope  and  were  most 
cordial  and  kind,  and  afterwards  we  went  ashore 
and  breakfasted  with  them.  •  Upernavik  is 
the  most  northern  settlement  of  the  Danish 
Government,  and  is  the  farthest  north  of  any 
inhabited  part  of  the  civilized  world.  Prof.  Tarr 
engaged  two  Danes  or  Danish  half-breeds,  and 
two  Esquimaux  for  his  station  at  Devil's  Thumb 
Bay.  We  left  Upernavik  about  i  o'clock  and 
went  north  along  the  high  and  rocky  coast,  pass- 
ing through  much  heavy  ice  and  icebergs  forty  or 
fifty  feet  square  and  high,  with  pans  or  pieces  of 
icebergs  and  drift  ice  all  around  us.  We  found  a 
harbor  with  thirteen  fathoms  of  water  at  the 
entrance,  and  we  could  look  down  the  shore  for 
half  a  mile  from  the  entrance.  The  Cornell  party 
were  landed  on  the  further,  east,  side  near  Sugar 
Loaf  Bay  on  a  rocky  beach,  with  small  bay,  with 
a  lake  of  water  behind  it  — it  is  three  or  four  miles 


— 16— 

from  Wilcox  Head — there  were  large  pieces  of 
ice  at  the  side  of  the  harbor,  sometimes  covered 
with  mud  or  dust,  and  slight  traces  of  vegetation 
I  believe,  also  a  glacier  near.  The  party  landed 
were  Prof.  Tarr,  Prof,  Gill,  Mr.  Watson,  Mr. 
Martin,  Mr.  Bonesteel  and  Mr.  Kindle.  It  has 
been  proposed  to  call  the  harbor  Hope  Harbor — 
we  left  about  4  o'clock  in  the  morning.  When 
about  sixty  miles  from  Wilcox  Head  we  shot  a 
polar  bear — it  was  seen  swimming  in  the  water — 
the  bear  secured.  It  was  a  male  and  the  dimen- 
sions were  : 

Nose  to  end  of  body,  6  feet  11  inches. 

Tail,  6  inches. 

Girth  of  the  neck,  2  feet  8  inches. 

Girth  of  ankle,  i  foot  S/4  inches. 

Height  of  fore  shoulder,  3  feet  8  inches. 

Girth  of  leg  above  elbow,  2  feet  i}i  inches. 

Waist,  4  feet  9  inches. 

Girth  of  flank,  5  feet  6  inches. 

Breadth  of  fore  foot,  S}4  inches. 

Breadth  of  hind  foot,  7f^  inches. 

Nose  to  center  of  hip  joint,  5  feet  11  inches. 

Weight  of  one  fore  quarter,  58  pounds. 

Weight  of  other  fore  quarter,  50  pounds. 

Weight  of  one  hind  quarter,  64  pounds. 

Weight  of  skin,  perhaps  100  pounds. 

Total  weight,  perhaps  800  pounds. 

The  skin  was  taken  off  for  mounting. 

At    Melville    Bay— Much   ice— stuck    fast    but 

backed  out. 

August  8th,  Saturday— Saw  the  cliff  of  Cape  York  rising 

before  us.     The  second  fastest  trip   made  across 

Melville    Bay — the    fastest    was    made  by    Lieut. 


—  17— 

Peary  in  a  previous  year,  but  in  189 1  he  was  three 
weeks  in  crossing  the  bay.  Went  up  the  mountain 
Avhere  we  found  birds  in  great  numbers — much  ice 
— one  berg  is  half  a  mile  long — made  the  ship  fast 
to  the  main  or  floe  ice  and  went  ashore — high 
peaks  rising  from  snow-capped  mountains — gla- 
ciers and  icebergs  glistening  in  the  sunshine — 
beautiful  warm  weather,  have  had  the  midnight 
sun  for  some  time — Cape  York  appears  to  be 
quite  high,  of  dark  stone,  sometimes  covered  with 
a  kind  of  lichen  like  seaweed,  tripe  de  roche 
perhaps,  with  white  flowers  and  many  birds  hov- 
ering about  in  clouds,  the  little  auks  with  heads 
large  for  the  body.  Two  young  auks  shot.  Many 
ducks  flew  about  or  skimmed  on  the  water.  Ice 
pack  close  to  us — seals  are  found  here,  and  a  large 
animal,  perhaps  a  seal,  is  seen  —  Esquimaux 
on  the  ship  with  clothes  of  bear  and  deer  and  seal 
skins.  A  large  glacier  extends  to  the  eastward 
of  the  settlement  of  Cape  York  into  the  sea,  a 
part  near  it  being  apparently  broken  off,  then  a 
tongue,  then  apparently  another  broken  portion. 
Avigust  9th,  Sunday — Cape  York.  In  the  morning  tem- 
perature 70°  in  the  sun  ;  in  the  evening,  air  32°. 
Temperature  of  the  water,  28^^°.  At  12.30  this 
morning  midnight  sun  made  the  brightness  of 
day  —  beautiful  weather — scenery  very  fine  — 
immense  glaciers,  snow-capped  mountains,  ice- 
bergs, land  cliffs,  colored  rocks,  all  combined — 
there  was  a  partial  eclipse  of  the  sun  at  midnight 
—  on  the  lower  half  one-fifth  obscured  —  went 
partly  up  the  hillside — saw  about  ten  or  twelve 
Esquimaux    and    seven    tents   and    about    twenty 


dogs,  one  puppy  having  a  collar  of  fur  on  his 
neck.  In  Melville  Bay  the  icebergs  are  high,  one 
being  like  a  castle  with  two  turrets. 
August  loth,  Monday — Left  Cape  York  at  midnight,  but 
really  in  broad  daylight,  reached  Conical  Rock 
about  5  A.  M.  We  shot  80  ducks  and  gulls  at 
Parker  Snow  cliffs  from  a  boat  ;  icebergs  in  sight. 
Great  numbers  of  birds,  baccalieu,  auks,  guille- 
mots away  up  the  cliffs,  which  are  of  white  quartz 
with  reddish  color  on  the  outside,  perhaps  like 
hemktite  rocks — these  cliffs  are  perhaps  700  feet 
high  ;  anchored  in  eleven  fathoms  in  a  little  bay, 
one  glacier  coming  in  from  the  east,  and  another 
running  out  into  the  sea  on  the  south— the  cliffs 
have  ledges  or  benches,  and  they  are  called  loom- 
eries,  from  the  immense  multitude  of  birds  which 
cover  them — the  baccalieu  birds  or  turrs  are 
not  very  large,  black  and  white  with  black 
webbed  feet.  The  cliffs  are  weathered  by  the  sea, 
dark  towards  the  bottom,  descending  directly  into 
the  water.  They  seem  to  be  entirely  of  gneiss 
with  one  vein  of  dark  stone  near  the  water,  above 
four  feet  broad,  with  half  crystalline  front  almost 
like  coal.  Our  second  officer,  who  steered  our 
boat,  gave  me  three  eggs,  gull  eggs,  the  ice  gull, 
perhaps  the  Kittywake  gull  —  as  many  as  200 
birds  in  all  were  taken.  This  gentleman  says 
that  he  has  been  let  down  seventy  fathoms — 
he  went  up  about  150  feet  on  the  rocks  ;  the  rope 
is  liable  to  untwist,  the  man  spinning  around 
like  a  top  —  one  man  was  killed  in  this  way. 
A  barrel  of  eggs  was  to  be  obtained  and  he 
offered  to  get  them — it  was  near  Turnavik  in  Lab- 


-19— 

rador  ;  he  had  a  fish  line  to  guide  him,  but  he  fell 
into  a  ledge  fifty  feet  below — he  was  drawn  up 
but  did  not  recover  from  the  accident. 

Conical  Rock  is  dark  red — red  and  black  rocks 
mixed,  hill  about  700  feet  high.  Stopped  at 
Parker  Snow  Bay.  Two  glaciers  nearly  to  the 
water's  edge — there  are  five  tupiks  at  Parker 
Snow  Bay.  The  hills  on  the  north  have  small 
lines  of  quartz,  about  3  inches  through,  dip  about 
45°  to  the  north,  but  the  top  layer  of  red  rock 
about  30°  dip  to  the  northward.  To  the  west  the 
dip  of  the  rocks  is  45°.  Beyond  is  a  seam  of 
rock-like  slate  40  feet  broad,  and  running  up  100 
feet.  At  one  point  the  black  rock  is  veined 
with  white.  The  valley  is  about  a  mile  broad. 
Petowik  glacier  can  be  seen  outside  of  Parker 
Snow  Harbor — it  is  several  miles  broad,  a  grand 
sight. 

Dalrymple  Rock,  quite  high,  steep  with  sharp 
points.  Cape  Athol  and  Omenak  follow  in  rapid 
succession — the  shore  off  Booth  Bay  is  low,  with 
ice  ;  some  young  eider  ducks  and  eggs  and  nests 
were  taken  here — one  nest  had  four  eggs  in  it. 
August  nth,  Tuesday — Near  North  Star  Bay,  at  a  bay  north 
of  Mount  Dundas — Reddish  cliffs  around  Mount 
Dundas — the  tops  of  the  cliffs  formed  a  sort  of 
wall  —  Wolstenholme  Island  or  Saunders  Island 
in  front,  Cape  Athol  near  on  other  side  —  high 
cliffs  all  the  way  from  Cape  York.  The  ice  was 
young,  not  very  thick  —  it  forms  in  spikes  or 
pieces  and  the  wind  piles  them  together  in  heaps 
— no  whaling  ships  had  stopped  there  —  must 
have  gone  west.       We   anchored  at   Omenak   or 


Ominooe  and  some  of  us  went  ashore,  with 
Esquimaux.  The  tide  rises  seven  feet  here. 
About  a  hundred  yards  away  there  are  two  places 
of  settlement,  a  winter  and  a  summer  one,  with 
skin  tents  or  tupiks  at  the  latter  one  ;  one 
was  oblong ;  and  lying  about  were  rolls  of  skin, 
sledges,  bird  spear,  pieces  of  meat.  One  sledge 
was  7^^  feet  long,  20  inches  broad  and  5^  inches 
high  —  the  runners  shod  with  pieces  of  ivory 
about  four  inches  long,  one  inch  wide  and  a 
quarter  of  an  inch  thick,  bound  on  to  the  bottom 
of  the  runner  with  thongs  countersunk  in  the 
runner.  Walrus  tusks  were  used  for  strengthen- 
ing the  side  of  a  sledge,  and  one  had  a  runner 
composed  of  pieces  of  wood  bound  together, 
lengthened  out  with  a  piece  of  bone.  A  piece  of 
one  with  iron  was  seen  here,  at  the  summer  settle- 
ment, which  was  perhaps  from  the  North  Star,  an 
English  vessel  which  was  lost  near  here.  The 
iron  was  about  2J^  inches  round  on  top,  with  bev- 
eled corners,  as  if  cut  off  with  a  sharp  instrument. 
Near  by  were  Esquimaux  graves  covered  with 
stones. 

The  rocks  seemed  here  to  have  no  regular 
cleavage  but  were  sometimes  near  the  water 
broken  into  square  lines  of  fracture.  The  igloos 
for  winter  were  on  the  west — they  are  stone 
huts,  but  the  tupiks  for  summer  are  skin   tents. 

At  this  summer  settlement  are  four  Esquimau 
families,  four  tupiks,  four  sledges  and  a  good 
many  dogs.  A  party  of  us  went  ashore  at  the 
winter  settlement  of  Omenak,  It  has  seven 
igloos,    made   of    stone,    lying   along    the   shore, 


one  construction  consisting  of  two  or  three 
igloos  together.  There  are  little  dog  houses  made 
with  covered  tops.  The  owner  of  one  of  the 
houses  had  died.  He  was  buried  within  the  house. 
The  kayak  of  the  owner  of  the  sledge  and 
tent  poles  were  left  near  the  house,  also  in 
the  house  a  stone  lamp  with  blubber  in  it,  and 
outside  of  the  house  a  fine  walrus  head  with 
pair  of  tusks,  which  was  brought  to  the  ship.  A 
hat  and  coat  which  Lieut.  Peary  had  given  the 
owner  of  the  house  before.  The  owner  of  the 
house  was  a  Nalegaksoak,  the  best  hunter  at 
Onienak.  He  had  once  come  out  in  his  kayak  ten 
miles  to  meet  a  steamer  on  which  Lieut.  Peary 
was. 
August  1 2th,  Wednesday — In  the  morning  went  across  the 
Sound  to  Esquimau  settlement  of  Kikertarsuak, 
perhaps  Manson  Island.  From  there  went  to- 
wards the  mouth  of  the  Sound.  Saw  two  walruses 
diving — backs  quite  high  out  of  water.  Was  in  a 
boat  away  from  the  ship.  Two  walruses  were  on 
a  pan  of  ice  near  an  iceberg.  Had  a  fine  sight  of 
the  walruses  within  about  fifty  yards.  Walruses 
dark  slate  or  stone  color,  with  black  marks  on 
heads.  The  boat  rose  and  fell  on  the  waves.  One 
walrus  rose  as  the  boat  came  up  and  stood  about 
five  feet  high.  A  shot  was  fired  at  the  body  of 
one  ;  he  leaned  over  a  little  to  the  left  towards 
the  water  and  then  plunged  into  it  with  the  other 
one ;  the  shot  seemed  to  have  no  effect  if  it  struck 
him.  The  pan  of  ice  was  several  feet  high  from 
the  water  and  had  been  discolored  by  the  walruses. 
An    island    which    we    passed,    Agpat,    Saunders 


Island,  I  think,  is  about  looo  feet  high,  perhaps, 
with  rocks  in  layers  red,  white  and  red — the  dip 
about  20  degrees  to  the  eastward.  It  stands  in 
bastions  and  layers — one  of  them  green.  One 
broad  band  of  sandstone  ran  in  about  the  middle 
of  the  cliff.  Tried  for  walrus — walrus  caught — 
harpooned  by  Esquimau — the  kayak  struck  against 
the  ice  and  the  Esquimau  was  overturned,  but 
rescued  by  other  Esquimaux  who  were  with  him 
and  then  brought  on  board  the  ship  by  a  boat.  This 
Esquimau  was  seen  some  time  ago  nearly  20  miles 
from  Cape  York  living  in  a  cave  with  two  dogs 
tied  in  front  of  it,  with  pieces  of  meat,  seal  or  per- 
haps walrus.  The  ice  turned  after  the  walrus  was 
struck — the  piece  of  wood  in  front  of  the  seat 
in  the  kayak  on  which  the  Esquimaux  (in  Whale 
Sound)  rest  their  paddles  was  broken.  It  was 
mended  with  gut  or  skin  line  afterward— the 
walrus  took  the  float  attached  to  the  harpoon 
under  the  water.     The  measurements  were  : 

Walrus  9  feet  7|^  inches  long— (it  was  a  male.) 

Girth  of  belly,  8  feet  4  inches. 

Length  of    front    flipper,  inside   measurement,   i   foot  8^ 

inches. 
Girth  of  front  flipper,  2  feet  lyi  inches. 
Length  of  back  flipper,  2  feet  I  inch. 
Girth  of  back  flipper,  i  foot  loj^  inches. 
Breadth  of  front  flipper,  no  need  of  spreading  it,  11  inches. 
Breadth  of  back  flipper  spread,  2  feet  3)4.  ?  inches. 

Afterward  in  the  evening  another  walrus  was 
harpooned. 

Walrus— length  8  feet  2>^  inches. 
Girth  of  waist,  7  feet  8  inches. 


Inside  measurement  of  front  fiipper,  i  foot  9  inches. 

Girth  of  front  fiipper,  i  foot  9  inches. 

Length  of  back  fiipper  from  center  of  body  to  end  of  toe 

inside,  i  foot  q]4,   inches. 
Girth  of  back  flipper,  i  foot  7  inches. 
Breadth  of  front  fiipper,  loj^  inches. 

Mr.  Operti  and  I  were  in  the  crow's  nest. 

By  glass  salinometer  salinity  of  water  east  of 
north  part  of  Saunders  Island  ^  less  than  ^%. 
Salinometer  line  temperature  of  190°. 

Temperature  of  air,  evening,  37°.  Temperature 
of  water  34°  ?. 

Number  of  bands  in  the  strata  on  the  north 
side  of  Saunders  Island,  fifty-seven.  The  isl- 
and is  5  miles  broad  and  13  miles  long. 
August  13th,  Thursday — At  Kikertuomey  or  Kikertarsuak 
again — five  tupiks,  five  meat  houses — one  a  small 
one — four  columns  for  drying  meat,  one  column 
of  wood.  Seal  skins  staked  down,  several  old 
places  for  meat.  Winter  igloos  to  the  west.  The 
town  is  on  a  kind  of  promontory  of  dark-colored 
rock,  friable,  worn  in  bastions  towards  the  east 
about  100  feet  apart.  Many  dogs  at  the  settle- 
ment, nine  of  large  size,  the  rest  of  them  puppies 
— one  quite  white  with  dark  head  ;  most  of  them 
were  dark-colored.  The  rocks  were  brownish, 
sloping  back  from  the  settlement  and  were  about 
1200  feet  high. 

Got  water  from  an  iceberg  ;  the  water  trickling 
in  small  streams  would  run  into  sidelong  clefts  in 
the  ice — a  pump  was  put  on  the  iceberg,  a  fire 
built,  the  ship  lying  close  to  the  berg,  and  a  hose 
put  from  the  ship  to  the  iceberg,  the  force  pump 


—24— 

carrying  the  water  to  the  ship.  I  went  to  the  top 
of  the  berg,  perhaps  50  feet  high  or  more — the 
day  was  warm,  over  48°  in  the  sun. 

The  land  sloping  behind  Mt.  Dundas  was  free 
from  snow  for  some  distance  inland.  A  glacier 
with  hills  on  both  sides  of  it  is  at  the  head  of 
Wolstenholme  Sound,  the  glacier  running  back  to 
the  inland  ice.  Horizon  foggy.  The  northern 
part  of  Smith  Sound  or  Kane  Sea  has  been  known 
since  the  time  of  Capt.  Inglefield,  1852.  Baffin  did 
not  distinguish  it.  The  shore  was  quite  free 
from  ice  in  the  early  part  of  August,  1896.  Some 
icebergs  in  the  water.  The  tide  runs  at  about  three 
knots  or  over  at  Kikertarsuak,  where  we  now  are, 
at  the  north  side  of  Wolstenholme  Sound.  Near 
Kikertarsuak  two  or  more  icebergs  or  ice  islands 
broke  with  a  noise  like  thunder — one  breaks  now. 
There  is  a  small  duck  here  called  sometimes  a  bull 
bird.  At  St.  John's,  Newfoundland,  a  year  ago  last 
winter  many  of  these  birds  were  driven  into  the 
harbor  by  the  ice — the  harbor  was  full  of  them. 
The  water  at  the  back  of  our  ship  measures  22 
fathoms.  There  are  now  on  board  the  Hope 
about  twelve  Esquimaux  and  four  Esquimau 
women  and  some  children,  the  men  doing  a  good 
deal  of  labor,  and  the  women  dressing  and  sewing 
the  skins  of  the  birds  and  animals  we  have  taken. 

A  bearded  seal  was  caught  about  two  miles 
beyond  the  settlement  of  Omenak  in  the  morning, 
and  brought  to  the  ship  in  the  afternoon — it  was 
an  ookgook  seal,  a  square  flipper.  It  was  har- 
pooned in  the  water  as  he  was  going  to  dive,  and 
towed  over  with  a  bladder,  about  ten   miles  from 


—25— 

Omenak — he  had  a  small  head  with  black  eyes  and 
his  beard  was  white  ;  his  coat  was  dark  with  short 
silvery  hair.  The  ookgook  seal  is  one  of  the 
largest  animals  near  here.  It  occurs  also  in 
Repulse  Bay  near  Hudson's  Bay.  Took  mercurial 
for  spirit  thermometer. 

The  stratification  of  the  land  is  not  so  marked 
here.  From  Parker  Snow  Bay  specimens  of  red 
granite  and  red  sandstone  baked  like  a  brick,  and 
a  bluish  and  red  fine  dark  sandstone,  and  a  kind 
of  substance,  gypsum  probably,  with  long  crys- 
tals apparently,  found  by  members  of  the  party. 

At  Kikertarsuak  a  blue  stone  with  white  veins, 
small,  about  one-sixth  of  an  inch  with  cleavage  is 
found.  The  forms  in  which  the  snow  rests  in  the 
top  of  a  mountain  on  the  south  side  of  Omenak 
Fiord,  near  Disco,  in  a  large  hollow  is  something 
like  the  filaments  of  a  large  leaf  with  eight  or 
nine  ribs  like  a  palm  and  some  feathery  lines  like 
the  lines  of  a  Sequoia  leaf  or  bunch  of  pine 
needles. 

The  current  at  Kikertarsuak  appears  to  be  quite 
strong  near  the  shore.  Some  good-sized  pieces  of 
ice  passed  us,  going  to  the  eastward.  The  glacier 
is  quite  solid  to  the  east.  One  gentleman  of  the 
party  was  in  an  igloo  and  the  stones  tumbled  on 
him,  but  Lieut.  Peary  helped  him  out.  Outside 
the  Sound  there  was  a  kind  of  fog,  but  the  sun  was 
high  at  7  o'clock,  p.  m.  The  Esquimaux  helped  in 
getting  water — channels  were  made  on  the  ice- 
berg. In  the  evening  skins  were  brought  out. 
When  icebergs  meet  they  crash  together  and  in 
breaking  make  loud  reports. 


—26— 

In  the  afternoon  went  into  Smith  Sound,  passing 
Granville  Bay.  Granville  Bay  on  the  south  point 
— dark  rock  with  dip  about  20°  to  the  S.W.  On 
shore  in  the  evening,  at  a  small  bay  north  of 
Granville  Bay,  a  glacier  at  the  head  of  bay,  lime- 
stone rocks  ;  saw  a  red-throated  diver  and  two 
reindeer,  one  a  buck.  A  little  house  of  stones 
was  on  the  end  of  the  point,  probably  an  Esqui- 
mau stopping-place,  with  bones  around. 

Near  the  N.W.  point  of  Granville  Bay,  north  of 
the  small  bay.  just  spoken  of,  is  a  mountain  called 
by  the  Esquimaux  Oobloodatingwah,  the  Sunlight 
Rock,  so  called  because  the  sun  just  touches  the  top 
of  it  when  it  disappears  in  the  last  days  of  the  fall. 

Temperature  of  the  air  at  12  o'clock  36°,  water 
36°,  mercurial  thermometer  about  40°. 
August  14th,  Friday — Passed  Cape  Parry,  Cape  Paw- 
lett,  and  Cape  Trautwine,  and  stopped  at 
II  A.  M.  near  the  village  of  Ittibloo  (Iteplik)  on 
Whale  Sound.  We  went  ashore,  seeing  a  glacier 
near  us.  Five  tupiks  here,  one  with  a  light  burn- 
ing in  it.  The  village  is  surrounded  with  grass  on 
a  sloping  piece  of  ground  at  the  foot  of  a  moun- 
tain with  a  glacier  and  stream  to  the  southwest. 
Oong-we,  an  Esquimau,  died  here  last  fall  and  was 
buried  in  the  middle  of  the  village  in  skins  with 
stones  piled  above  and  two  stones  on  the  body. 
About  ten  or  twenty  pretty  good-looking  dogs. 
Near  Ittibloo  is  a  mountain,  Kavidtluassuak  or 
Falcon  Mountain.  Went  hunting  reindeer  in  the 
afternoon  with  an  Esquimau.  We  staid  out  till  2 
o'clock  next  morning  by  the  midnight  sunlight. 
Shot  at  deer.     Six  p.  m.,  anchored  at  Olric's  Bay. 


—  27  — 

August  15th,  Saturday — In  Olric's  Bay,  near  Salmon 
River;  young  ice  formed  in  the  night.  Started  at 
midnight  and  came  around  toward  Kangerdluksuak 
and  anchored  in  the  morning  in  Inglefield  Gulf. 

August  i6th,  Sunday — At  Kangerdluksuak  went  reindeer 
hunting  with  Mr.  Hollifield  and  an  Innuit  to  a  lake 
and  meadow,  with  a  stream  in  it,  about  five  miles 
away — stayed  out  till  one  o'clock  next  morning, 
in  bright  sunshine.  Temperature  of  air  11  a.  m. 
40° — found  spirit  compass  of  value. 

August  17th,  Monday — Left  Kangerdluksuak  towards 
noon.  Came  to  Hurlburt  Glacier,  with  a  row  of 
pinnacles  stretching  about  500  feet  into  the  sea, 
the  height  being  200  feet  ;  a  moraine  on  the  east ; 
an  Esquimau  house  near  and  stones  for  lamps. 
The  Esquimaux  come  here  in  summer  and  get  the 
stones  to  make  lamps.  Came  across  to  Bowdoin 
Bay  and  saw  Anniversary  Lodge,  where  Lieut. 
Peary  and  party  were — one  of  their  two  houses 
here  was  burned  and  another  torn  down.  Took 
some  things  from  there.  Went  near  Bowdoin  Bay 
glacier.     Soundings  123  fathoms. 

August  1 8th,  Tuesday — Went  back  to  Kangerdluksuak — 
took  up  Mr.  Lee.  Stopped  at  Karnah.  Obtained 
one  narwhal  from  near  Karnah.  Three  walruses 
taken.     Measurement  of  one  walrus  : 

Length,  9  feet  7^  inches. 
Girth  of  waist,  8  feet  4  inches. 
Girth  of  belly,  8  feet  9^  inches. 
Inside  of  front  flipper,  length,  2  feet  >^  inch. 
Girth  of  front  flipper,  i  foot  10  inches. 
Length  inside  of  back  flipper,  2  feet. 
Girth  of  back  flipper,  i  foot  8^  inches. 
Breadth  of  flipper,  ioj4  inches. 


Two  more  walruses  taken,  one  trying  to  get 
into  the  boat  from  the  pan  of  ice  ;  he  put  his 
tusks  over  the  gunwale  and  knocked  off  a 
splinter — the  other,  a  cow  walrus,  rolled  off  the 
ice  pan.  Captured  nineteen  walruses,  one  of 
them,  a  young  one,  alive.  There  were  twenty  in 
all,  one  got  away.  In  the  evening  returned  to 
Cape  Karnah,  Avhere  we  had  been  in  the  morning. 
We  left  there  the  Esquimaux  and  the  walrus  meat, 
of  which  there  were  many  tons  ;  it  had  filled  one 
side  of  the  deck,  making  it  list  over.  Lieut. 
Peary  had  supplied  the  Esquimaux  last  year  also 
with  walrus  meat,  sufficient  for  a  winter's  use. 
August  19th,  Wednesday — Went  to  Robertson  Bay  in  the 
morning  and  saw  about  ten  tupiks  near  the  head  of 
the  bay.  Left  Mr.  Hansen  with  a  tent  to  see  about 
walrus  meat.  Saw  the  Verhoeff  glacier,  which  is 
much  broken  by  the  grinding  of  the  moraine. 

Saw  the  ice  cap  with  a  cloud  over  it  that  looked 
like  a  second  ice  cap.  Wind  from  N.E.  Temper- 
ature of  the  air  about  40° — spirit  thermometer. 
Went  to  the  north,  seeing  Cape  Cleveland,  a 
reddish  promontory  with  a  glacier  coming  down 
to  the  sea,  joining  another  glacier,  making  an 
ice-foot.  Passed  Cape  Alexander,  with  the  Crys- 
stal  Palace  glacier  on  the  north  side.  Looked 
at  the  ice  in  Smith  Sound,  which  seemed  to 
stretch  completely  from  shore  to  shore.  Reached 
latitude  78°  24'  N.  We  could  not  pass  through  ice 
and  turned  to  the  right,  coming  to  the  place  of 
"Polaris  House."  At  Life  Boat  Cove  the  water 
is  moderately  deep  ;  saw  land  stretching  far 
upwards,    rocky.     Saw  Port   Foulke,   Dr.    Hayes' 


—  29  — 

winter  quarters.  At  August  Sontag's  grave  we  re- 
set the  stone,  which  had  fallen.  He  was  the  astron- 
omer of  the  party.  There  was  not  much  ice  in  sight 
to  the  westward.  Cape  Isabella  is  a  round  moun- 
tain with  a  snow-clad  summit,  about  2,000  feet  high, 
and  beyond  on  a  lower  point  is  Cape  Sabine.  The 
Polaris  is  sunk  a  little  to  the  north  of  Littleton  Isl- 
and. Sutherland  Island  is  small  with  light  reddish 
rock  broken  almost  like  basalt  on  the  west.  Cape 
Ohlsen  is  a  rather  long  point  in  the  water,  of  light 
reddish  rock  also  broken.  The  Polaris  House  is 
some  500  yards  or  so  to  the  northeast  of  the 
rugged  beach  where  the  Polaris  was  run  ashore. 
Lieut.  Peary  found  one  handle  of  a  hand-pump 
with  two  handles,  about  five  feet  apart,  and  a 
broken  letter  press.  We  got  a  piece  of  a  musk  ox 
skull,  apparently  from  Thank  God  Harbor,  and 
the  dial  of  the  steam  gauge  with  the  name  H.  A, 
Ashcroft,  Boston,  on  it.  A  good  many  pieces  of 
iron,  nails,  screw  eyes,  etc.,  were  lying  about,  and 
one  piece  that  looked  like  a  part  of  the  gunwale, 
three  feet  long  and  six  inches  through,  with  a 
rounded  end  ;  also  locks  and  hinges  and  small 
pieces  of  rope  and  canvas  much  weathered.  We 
passed  the  bay  on  which  is  the  settlement  of  Etah, 
but  this  year  no  Esquimaux  are  there.  Port 
Foulke  is  small  with  land  rising  on  all  sides  of  it, 
rocky,  with  a  little  brook  coming  in  at  the  head 
of  the  bay.  Three  or  four  small  islands  lie  to  the 
north  of  the  entrance  called  by  Dr.  Hayes,  The 
Youngsters,  Knorr,  Starr  and  Radcliffe.  On  the 
hills  were  Arctic  hares,  and  multitudes  of  young 
ducks  were  catching  shrimps  in  the  harbor.      Ice 


— 3°— 

too  heavy  towards  Cape  Sabine  and  Smith  Sound 
to  pass.  This  is  our  highest  point  north  latitude, 
78°  24".     We  turn  south  at  9  p.  m. 

August  20th,  Thursday — At  Robertson  Bay  — the  settlement 
has  twelve  or  more  tupiks,  with  fifty-four  Esqui- 
maux, Mr,  Hollifield  and  I  went  up  the  hill  to 
the  east  and  walked  towards  the  "  Verhoeff  "glacier. 
The  glacier  comes  low  quite  quickly.  A  high 
dome  of  inland  ice  was  visible  to  the  southeast. 
An  Arctic  hare  was  in  the  field  on  top  of  the  hill. 
Snow  banks  and  small  glaciers  were  near  the  sum- 
mits of  the  hills  or  gorges — a  little  snow  or  rain 
this  morning.  Near  Herbert  Island  about  9.30  p.  m. 
Temperature  of  air  38°.  Dogs  were  at  the  settle- 
ment. Stopped  at  Igludahomey,  Peteravik,  and 
got  a  white  whale,  about  fifteen  feet  long  ;  its 
tail  fin  stiff  like  a  propeller,  the  outside  white 
and  smooth  ;  it  is  said  to  fall  off,  on  cutting  up, 
leaving  the  skin  underneath. 

August  2ist,  Friday — Going  towards  the  south.  In  the 
afternoon  got  to  the  settlement  of  Omenak  or 
Oominooe,  in  Wolstenholme  Sound.  10  a.  m. 
temperature  air  38°.  10  evening,  temperature  air 
40°.  The  young  walrus  that  we  called  Jack  and 
had  had  on  board,  died. 

August  2 2d,  Saturday — Went  out  towards  Wolstenholme 
Island.  Got  a  large  walrus  about  noon.  He 
was  harpooned  by  one  of  the  Esquimaux,  after 
which  he  was  shot  twice.  The  length  of  his  tusks 
was  about  one  foot.     The  measurements  were  : 

Length,  10  feet  8  inches. 

Waist,  10  feet  7  inches. 

Length  front  flipper,  2  feet  i]4  inches. 

Length  back  flipper,  i  foot  2>'A  inches. 


—31  — 

Wolstenholme  Island  seen  from  the  south  has 
a  mass  of  red  rock  to  the  east,  right  hand  side, 
and  to  the  left  hand  side  west,  a  light  brown  rock, 
then  the  island  becomes  lower  with  darker  rock  or 
vegetation,  3  o'clock  a.  m.  thermometer  38°  above 
o — 8  o'clock  A.  M.  temperature  air  46°.  Nineteen 
walruses  were  taken  in  all  before  this,  averaging 
1,000  pounds  or  so,  except  three  small  ones,  mak- 
ing 16,000  pounds  of  meat,  or  over,  and  one  white 
whale.  The  walrus  obtained  is  the  largest  yet 
taken.  It  must  weigh  over  half  a  ton.  Stopped 
at  Parker  Snow  Bay — saw  an  Esquimau,  lUi, 
ashore  with  a  rifle,  probably  one  which  Lieut. 
Peary  had  given  him.  During  this  day  at  Manson 
Island.  An  Esquimau  came  back  to  the  ship  for 
a  gun  which  he  had  left.  Saw  a  gun  made  to  fire 
from  the  side  with  a  strong  piece  of  iron  some- 
what springy.  Going  back  to  Parker  Snow  Bay, 
some  went  along  the  shore  in  a  boat.  Took  a 
family  on  board  with  sledge  and  ten  or  twelve 
dogs,  six  of  them  Lieut.  Peary's. 
August  23d,  Sunday — In  the  morning  at  Cape  York  and  at 
about  ten  o'clock  were  at  the  place  of  the  mete- 
orite. Tied  to  the  rocky  shore ;  the  meteorite  had 
not  been  moved — we  put  a  plank  ashore  and  com- 
menced digging — Mr.  Hollifield  and  I  took  a  walk 
and  made  a  cairn  of  stones  on  a  hilltop  near  by,  on 
the  S.E.  of  the  island  toward  Baffin  Bay,  and  on 
the  edge  of  the  ice  sheet.  Found  a  piece  of  wood, 
some  of  it  fresh,  that  is  woody  but  decayed, 
some  fossilized — found  mica  in  quartz.  It  was 
foggy.  Some  icebergs  to  the  S.E.  One  probably 
grounded.     In  the  evening  walked  to  the  middle 


—32— 

hill — found  the  top  of  a  glacier — a  gull  flew  over 
it — found  below  the  rock  an  agate-like  feldspar — 
many  red  stones  lying  there — a  glacier  near  with 
several  streams  running  through  it  —  excellent 
water  to  drink.  lo  p.  m.  temperature  of  water 
27° — air  20°. 

August  24ih,  Monday — Work  on  the  meteorite.  Made  a 
road  to  the  ship— pieces  of  lumber  laid  from  the 
rail  of  the  ship  to  the  shore — ship  ready  to  be 
cleaned — some  ice  in  the  bay — one  piece  appar- 
ently fifty  feet  square — cloudy  in  the  morning 
with  some  gleams  of  the  sun  towards  the  north. 
Temperature  of  air  this  morning  about  38°. 
Bushnan  Island  lies  to  the  south  of  this.  The 
back  lower  end  of  the  iron,  which  was  about  three 
feet  under  ground,  is  now  hoisted  up  clear  of  the 
ground  about  three  inches. 

August  25th,  Tuesday — Work  on  the  iron.  It  is  now 
entirely  clear  from  the  ground — an  iron  wheel 
and  steel  chain  and  the  rails  are  brought  up 
— in  the  afternoon  the  end  of  an  iron  wire  cable 
is  brought — the  railroad  iron  has  been  laid  on  two 
skids — the  metal  has  been  placed  on  the  rails  and 
moved  ten  feet  toward  the  ship.  Mr.  Sutherland  and 
I  took  a  walk  and  found  a  stone  about  ten  feet  high 
and  ten  feet  square  with  bits  of  mica  in  it — walked 
some  on  the  ice — a  little  lake  is  near  the  center  of 
the  island — on  the  way  back  found  a  stone  with  a 
vein  of  greenish  stone  in  it — open  water  stretch- 
ing to  north  and  west  of  the  island.  The  tide 
rises  here  about  four  feet.  The  island  stands 
near  Melville  Bay  and  is  called  Meteor  Island. 
It  is  about  six  miles  long  and  three  miles  broad. 


—33— 

The  hill  of  Sarwiksuak,  500  feet  high,  lies  to  the 
eastward.  To  the  westward  are  two  promin- 
ences ;  the  further  one,  I  think,«  is  Cape  York. 
It  is  said  the  natives  call  this  Imnanoerne 
Imnanak.  Behind  Meteor  Island  is  a  smaller 
one  or  islet  and  two  glaciers,  one  on  the  north 
and  one  on  the  northwest.  There  are  three 
Esquimau  fox  traps  well  preserved  on  the  rocks 
or  stones  which  lie  between  the  two  glaciers 
which  come  into  the  water  on  the  west.  The 
appearance  of  the  rocks  on  a  kind  of  hill 
with  prominences  on  the  north  is  singular,  and  it 
is  like  the  wings  of  a  bat  or  leaves  of  a  plant  like 
hemlock,  which  grows  in  Greenland.  Tempera- 
ture of  water  about  8.45  a.  m.  28° — young  ice  is 
formed  near  the  icebergs  in  the  bay.  Tempera- 
ture of  the  air  about  9  a.  m.  39° — a  little  rain  in 
the  afternoon. 

August  26th,  Wednesday — About  12  noon  temperature  of 
water  about  28° — air  about  35° — some  rain  this 
morning.  Iron  at  top  of  hill.  Temperature  11 
p.  M.  water  28° — air  38°.  Iron  nearly  at  foot  of 
hill. 

August  27th,  Thursday — In  the  morning  foggy.  Lichens 
grow  freely  on  the  rocks  above  the  water  line 
near   the    sea.     Iron    is   getting  nearer   the    ship. 

August  28th,  Friday — Walked  to  end  of  the  point.  Tem- 
perature, water  29°,  air  30°,  at  10  p.  m.  Three  of 
the  jack-screws  have  given  out. 

August   29th,   Saturday — Temperature,   morning,  air   32°, 

water  27°.     Rainy.     Height  of  hill  at  S.W.  of  the 

island  where  the  meteorite  is,  about  369  feet.     At 

noon  Mr.  Sutherland  and  I  went  to  the  top  of  the 

3 


—34— 

little  hill  south  of  the  ship.  Ice  is  forming  around 
our  steamer.  Cleared  in  afternoon.  Went  to  a 
hill  at  the  east  of  Meteor  Island  named  after  a 
person  on  the  Hope  by  Lieut.  Peary — grand 
view  —  counted  five  glaciers.  Putting  ballast 
aboard. 

August  30th,  Sunday — Crew  not  working  on  iron  to-day. 
Temperature,  about  9.45  a.  m.,  water  29°,  air  32°. 
About  12  p.  M.,  water  27°. 

August  31st,  Monday — About  11  P.  m.,  temperature,  air  32°, 
water  28°.  Snow  during  the  day — hills  near  the 
ship  covered  with  snow.  The  iron  lies  near  the 
ship.  Mr.  Operti,  our  artist,  has  a  tent  on  shore, 
and  a  kind  of  shelter  with  a  sail  is  made  for  Mr. 
Bradbury,  who  has  a  forge.  He  has  made  a  shoe 
to  come  on  the  rail.  The  iron  rests  on  rails.  The 
sailors  from  the  ship  work  on  it  in  the  day  time, 
and  the  Esquimaux  with  others  at  night.  There 
are  about  ten  Esquimaux.  On  Saturday  bal- 
lasting was  going  on.  A  heap  of  stones  comes 
up  to  the  lower  hatchway — timbers  have  been  cut 
and  put  in  to  strengthen  the  edges  of  the  upper 
main  hatchway.  Snow — wet  snow — but  work 
goes  on  day  and  night,  preparing  to  take  meteorite 
on  board. 

September  ist,  Tuesday — At  Meteor  Island — morning — 
Active  work  on  the  iron.  It  was  tried  whether 
the  hard  wood  beams  would  bear  the  weight  of 
the  iron  mass — a  heavy  part  of  the  mass  was 
brought  to  bear  on  one  of  the  beams  and  it  bent 
it  down.  Meteor  Island  and  the  other  side  of 
the  bay  near  by  to  the  east  was  visited  last  year 
by  Lieut.   Peary,  and  two  masses  of    iron   were 


—35— 

brought  away  from  the  land,  which  did  not  lie  so 
deep  in  the  ground  as  this  mass — one  weighed 
about  three  tons.  It  was  brought  on  the  ship  by 
aid  of  a  differential  pulley.  The  mass  here  is  said 
to  contain  nickel  and  a  little  cobalt  and  something 
else.  The  percentage  of  iron  is  very  large.  The 
tide  rises  here  about  four  feet.  This  afternoon  it 
turned  at  about  6)^  o'clock  from  high  Avater. 
Some  rails  are  fixed  on  beams.  All  timbers  avail- 
able will  be  needed,  it  is  said,  for  the  bridge  from 
the  shore  to  the  ship.  The  heap  of  stones  is  made 
inside  of  the  starboard  quarter  and  the  hold  of 
the  boat,  and  a  mass  of  stones  to  the  edge  of  the 
lower  hatchway.  It  has  frozen  in  the  bay  for 
some  days — at  first  a  mere  skimming  of  ice,  per- 
haps a  sixteenth  of  an  inch — now,  after  the  rain 
it  does  not  seem  thick  near  the  ship's  side.  The 
rain  has  taken  away  the  snow  from  the  hillsides 
near  here.  It  is  raining  now.  There  is  a  moun- 
tain of  snow,  a  dome,  to  the  eastward  of  us, 
apparently  on  the  mainland,  which  has  been 
ascended  by  a  gentleman,  and  with  an  aneroid 
barometer  it  was  calculated  to  be  about  4000 
feet  high.  There  are  other  domes  of  snow 
near  us,  and  the  Souwallik  mountains  stretch  out 
into  the  sea.  The  more  distant  ones  are  said  to  be 
650  or  675  feet  high.  The  mountain  jutting  into 
the  sea  may  be  Melville  Mountain,  from  500  to 
1000  feet  high.  There  are  icebergs  to  the  south  of 
us,  not  very  large,  80  or  100  feet  across,  thickly 
scattered  about.  It  seems  as  if  Cape  York  or  open 
water  could  be  seen  to  the  S.W.,  a  purple  ridge. 
10.40  p.  M.,  temperature,  water  27°,  air  36°. 


-S6- 

September  2d,  Wednesday — Temperature  of  air  near 
10.40  A.  M.,  about  35°  ;  about  12  o'clock,  air  33", 
water  28°.  Work  at  the  iron  stone.  A  chorus 
sung  by  the  sailors  at  work  is  as  follows  : 

Oh  m}'  Johnny  Voker 
We  will  turn  this  heavy  Joker 
We  will  roll  and  rock  it  over 

We  will  turn  the  heavy  Joker 
Oh  my  Johnny  Voker,  Haul  ! 

Compass  in  two  days  moved  little  if  any. 

Stone  measurements: 

Around  the  mass  sideways,  25  feet  2^  inches. 

Around  the  mass  front  and  back,  19  feet  sH  inches. 

Height  of  front  end,  4  feet  5  inches. 

Height  of  back  end,  4  feet  6  inches. 

Top  convex  from  side  to  side,  12  feet  2  inches. 

Bottom,  from  front  to  back,  concave,  straight  measurement, 

6  feet  9  inches. 
Bottom,  underside  from  side  measured  near  back  end,  5  feet 

9  inches. 
A  hollow  underneath  the  mass  about  six  inches  high. 
The  mass  from  the  edge  of  the  bank  from  the  water,  6  feet. 
One  cubic  foot  of  wrought  iron  weighs  485  lbs  ;  one  cubic 
foot  of  nickel,  788  lbs. 

The  stone  tipped  over  now,  lying  upside  down 
on  skid  6  feet  from  the  edge  of  the  rock  at  the 
sea.  Gave  up  work  on  the  iron,  the  jack  lift 
proving  insufficient.  A  100  ton  jack  and  three 
smaller  jacks  had  given  Avay  ;  besides  these  we 
had  three  or  four  pulleys  to  raise  6000  or  8000  lbs. 
apiece  and  a  steel  chain.  It  would  take,  it  is  said, 
three  or  four  days  to  put  the  meteorite  on  board. 


—37— 

It  rained  heavily.  Went  with  Mr.  Sutherland  to 
the  top  of  the  hill.  Some  ice  seen  in  front  to 
the  south,  with  some  open  water.  Quite  foggy 
a  short  distance  from  the  shore.  Came  back  and 
took  down  a  tent  we  had  on  shore.  I  left  a 
compass  mark  at  Meteor  Island  near  "  Hope 
Pier,"  two  small  stones  under  heaps  of  stones 
marking  a  north  and  south  line,  (near  brow 
of  hill  about  300  feet  west  of  "  Hope  Pier.") 
In  the  evening  went  and  collected  stones,  spar, 
etc.  Temperature  of  water  about  10^  p.  m.,  28°. 
The  rain,  varying  with  snow,  at  Meteor  Island, 
was  quite  continuous.  It  rained  more  or  less  for 
five  or  six  days  there.  Our  decks  were  now  mod- 
erately free  from  slush. 
September  3d,  Thursday — Sailed  early  in  the  morning  at 
about  8  o'clock,  or  earlier.  The  weather  now  so 
dark  in  the  morning  that  we  could  not  read  the 
thermometer  ;  about  32°,  I  think,  at  8  o'clock. 
Came  into  Sarwiksuak  Bay,  lying  to  the  south- 
west of  the  projecting  ridge  of  a  snowbank,  get- 
ting 8  fathoms.  Went  after  breakfast  in  a  boat  to 
the  shore  at  the  head  of  the  little  bay.  Found  a 
snowdrift  near  it  to  the  south  with  a  brook  on  the 
north  of  it.  Mr.  Sutherland,  another,  Mr.  Holli- 
field  and  I  passed  the  snowdrift  to  the  east  of  us. 
It  had  26  bands  of  dust  or  dark  streaks  on  the 
front.  The  tenth,  eleventh  and  twelfth  from  the 
top  were  quite  near  together,  then  a  broad  streak 
of  perhaps  15  to  20  feet  to  the  next.  The  average 
distance  of  the  dust  lines  from  the  top  of  the 
glacier  each  year,  from  one  another,  is  about 
7   or    10   feet    perhaps.     Passing   over   the  lower 


-38- 

part  of  a  snow  bank  about  an  eighth  of  a  mile 
broad  we  came  to  a  ravine,  the  isthmus  between 
Sarwiksuak  Bay  and  the  next,  Prince  Regent's 
Bay.  We  found  at  an  elevation  above  the  sea 
of  300  feet,  perhaps,  a  heap  of  dark  bluish  stones, 
trap,  which  had  been  used  by  the  Esquimaux  as 
hammers  to  detach  pieces  of  iron  from  the  small 
supposed  meteoric  mass,  brought  away  last  year. 
The  heap  was  about  20  feet  across  each  way  and  6 
or  7  feet  high.  These  stones  occurred  no  nearer 
than  the  shores  of  VVolstenholme  Sound,  200  miles 
away.  The  meteoric  stone  brought  last  year 
had  lain  in  the  middle  of  these,  leaving  a  hole 
three  feet  deep.  The  mass  had  weighed  about 
three  tons — a  road  had  been  made  some  three  feet 
broad  and  it  was  dragged  along  this  and  across  the 
foot  of  the  snow-bank  and  over  the  ice  to  the  ship, 
the  Kite,  on  two  poles  about  six  inches  through,  by 
Esquimaux.  There  was  another  smaller  piece  of 
iron  near  this,  perhaps,  two  or  three  cubic  feet  in 
amount,  24  inches  by  18  inches,  and  one  foot  thick. 
This  had  also  been  taken  away  on  the  Kite.  There 
were  Esquimau  shelters,  three  near  by  and  one 
a  little  further  oS,  which  had  been  used  by  the 
Esquimaux  while  working  at  the  iron.  Could 
one  of  these  shelters  have  been  a  grave  ?  I 
ascended  a  hill  near  by  the  rock,  500  feet  high 
from  the  sea,  and  had  a  fine  view  of  a  glacier  of 
five  miles  broad  running  apparently  ten  or  twenty 
miles  back  into  the  land,  which  filled  the  bottom 
of  a  valley  towards  Prince  Regent's  Bay.  It  was 
cut  up  by  crevasses  and  a  river  was  running  to  the 
south  of  it.     There  were  high  snow   mountains  in 


—39— 

the  interior,  the  ridge  I  was  on  running  back  to 
the  summit.  On  the  other  side  of  the  valley  there 
were  mountains  probably  about  2000  or  3000  feet 
high.  On  returning  to  the  boat  I  obtained  other 
specimens,  one  seeming  to  have  a  little  mica  in  it 
and  red  and  white  stone,  another  a  red  surface, 
while  a  third  was  flat  of  a  dark  blue  color.  In 
1894  Lieut.  Peary  had  been  to  this  place  with  an 
old  Esquimau.  The  stone  was  under  three  feet  of 
snow,  and  only  by  looking  over  the  ground  much, 
and  by  a  small  piece  of  blue  stone  appearing  above 
the  snow,  could  he  find  it.  The  pit  in  the  snow 
was  three  feet  deep  to  the  top  of  the  mass,  and  after 
digging  around  it  and  standing  in  it  he  could  not 
see  out.  The  other  stone,  the  one  on  Meteor  Island, 
could  not  be  found.  In  1895  the  bay,  Sarwiksuak 
Bay,  had  a  wall  of  ice  around  it,  then  a  strip  of 
open  water,  then  floe  ice.  Anchor  ice  in  the  bot- 
tom of  the  bay.  It  is  shallow  near  the  head 
of  the  bay,  only  ten  or  twelve  feet  deep,  and 
has  a  whitish  reflection  from  the  snow  and 
glacier  above.  A  cliff  of  ice  is  about  120  feet 
high.  Lieut.  Peary  says  the  knife  or  knives 
found  by  Ross  are  not  in  the  British  Museum, 
where  they  would  be  if  in  existence.  He  has 
two  knives,  a  man's  and  woman's,  the  woman's 
knife  with  three  pieces  of  iron  about  the  size  of  a 
five-cent  piece  each,  set  so  as  to  form  a  cutting 
edge.  The  Esquimaux  may  have  spent  three 
days  in  getting  out  a  piece  of  iron — no  pieces 
found  under  the  mound  of  stones.  Pieces  of 
pitch  pine  about  16  inches  long  and  7  inches  square 
were  there,  five  of  them  left  last  year. 


— 40— 

At  4.28  p.  M.  temperature  of  water  29°,  air  36-^^^°. 
At  9.27  p.  M.  temperature  of  water  30°,  air  39°. 10. 
At  10  p.  M.  temperature,  air  39°. 

September  4th,  Friday — Bushnan  Island.  Two  points 
standing  out  to  the  east  behind  the  entrance 
to  the  bay  to  the  west  of  the  two  islands.  Started 
at  3  or  4  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Left  Sar- 
wiksuak  Bay  and  came  to  the  north  and  west 
of  Meteor  Island.  The  channel  not  very  full  of 
ice.  We  passed  to  the  west  of  Bushnan  Island, 
which  is  quite  prominent.  There  is  a  mountain 
with  its  head  cloven,  at  the  head  of  the  bay.  We 
came  by  four  or  five  more  promontories  going 
to  the  west,  and  several  icebergs.  On  one  of  these, 
on  the  north  side,  a  bear  had  a  hole  quite  high  up. 
It  was  shot.  It  was  a  female.  We  arrived  near 
Cape  York  once  more  and  tied  to  the  glacier 
about  a  mile  and  a  half  to  the  eastward  of  the 
village  and  got  water.  Sledges  came  to  us.  I 
walked  over  the  glacier  to  the  village  at  the  sledge 
track  and  had  a  sledge  ride  with  an  Esquimau 
called  Myouk  and  six  dogs.  Then  I  walked  up 
on  the  glacier  again  and  had  a  fine  view  of  the 
island-like  cliffs  at  the  edge  of  the  glacier  sur- 
rounding the  bay  to  the  east  of  Cape  York,  the 
glacier  stretching  lonely  towards  the  north  of  the 
sea,  with  ice  to  the  south.  Left  Cape  York,  went 
near  by  the  western  point  of  the  lidge  near  Cape 
York,  at  about  7  o'clock.  Temperature  of  water  at 
7.40,  28^°.     Thermometer  about  this  time  35-^0°- 

September  5th,  Saturday — Temperature  of  air  9.40,  32°  ; 
water  10.36  a.  m.,  28°  ;  air,  same  time,  a  little  under 
33°;  sounding  in  front  of  Bowdoin  Bay  glacier  was 


—41  — 

about  1 20  fathoms,  and  in  front  of  Imnanak  (Cape 
York)  glacier,  23  fathoms.  Foggy  this  morning  and 
afternoon.  At  quarter  to  7  no  wind.  Last  night 
took  in  sails  in  the  evening.  Wind  changed  to  south- 
erly. At  11.06  p.  M.,  water  28°,  air  at  11. 12  p.  m.,  28°. 
Melville  Bay  was  quite  open  after  leaving  Cape 
York.  We  stopped  once  for  the  ice  in  the  night  of 
the  4th  and  5th.  The  fog  lifted  a  little  at  about 
noon  and  the  horizon  was  indistinct.  I  tried  an 
observation.  The  fog  heavy  and  the  air  cold  dur- 
ing the  day.  Frost  collected  on  rope,  and  icicles 
came  on  the  bridge  of  the  ship.  Melville  Bay  is 
about  150  or  200  miles  across.  Bears  come  out 
some  distance  on  the  floes. 

September  6th,  Sunday — Thermometer  at  7.25,  air  30°. 
Cool — ice  fell  from  the  rigging  on  the  deck.  Got 
under  way  about  8  in  the  morning.  Temperature 
at  7.05,  evening,  ^3°  or  34°. 

September  7th,  Monday — In  the  morning  arrived  at  Sugar 
Loaf  Bay  near  where  the  Cornell  University 
party  were  left.  At  7  a.  m.,  water  30°.  At  "  Hope 
Harbor"  the  dip  is  about  25°  to  the  east — reddish 
rock — limestone.  An  Esquimau  double  igloo. 
Saw  a  cairn  about  4)^  feet  high  with  an  American 
flag  on  a  flag-staff  over  a  white  cloth,  floating  a 
little  in  the  breeze.  A  bottle  was  tied  to  the  staff 
with  this  note  inside — a  notice,  dated  Aug.  31st. 
"  Impossible  to  land — in  camp  on  the  west  side  of 
the  peninsula,  two  miles  from  here.  R.  S.  Tarr." 
Two  records  of  the  same  kind  were  with  the  bottle 
on  leaves  from  a  note  book.  Lieut.  Peary  took  the 
bottle  and  breaking  the  neck  read  the  notice. 
We   went    on    in    the    steamer  around   the  point, 


-42  — 

Lieut.  Peary,  Mr.  S.,  George  and  I,  looking  for 
the  tents.  Lieut.  Peary  saw  them  first,  and  said 
"  There  they  are  "  (the  Cornell  party).  Thermom- 
eter, 7.37  A.  M.,  air  36!°. 

Hill  behind  the  camp  250  feet  high,  about,  and  be- 
yond that  a  mountain  ;  to  the  east  a  streak  of  snow 
nearly  to  the  summit.  An  Esquimau  igloo  on  the 
shore.  The  party  have  been  about  two  weeks  in 
camp.  They  have  visited  the  Duck  Islands.  Many 
signs  of  glaciation  are  said  to  occur  in  Melville  Bay 
as  reported  by  a  geologist  with  a  party  at  Melville 
Bay.  Took  aboard  Professor  Tarr,  Professor  Gill, 
Mr.  Kindle,  Mr.  Bonesteel,  Mr.  Martin,  Mr.  Breaker 
and  the  pilot,  with  three  others— four  persons  from 
Upernavik.  The  party  had  been  in  camp  near  the 
mountain  called  the  Devil's  Thumb,  two  miles 
from  it.  Professor  Tarr  had  made  an  excursion 
with  others  of  about  five  miles  on  the  inland  ice. 
Rivers  about  ten  or  twenty  feet  across  were  found, 
and  pot-holes  but  no  crevasses.  The  Devil's 
Thumb  was  ascended  by  Professor  Gill  and  Mr. 
Martin,  and  a  cairn  was  built  at  the  top  of  it. 
The  glacier  extended  into  the  sea  near  the  Devil's 
Thumb,  making  a  loose  floating  amount  of  ice  ; 
the  water  froze  for  three  nights  in  succession. 
They  returned  and  encamped  near  (about  two 
miles  from)  Wilcox  Head.  They  left  the  record 
mentioned  above  at  a  little  harbor  spoken  of  near 
the  end  of  Wilcox  Head,  with  the  small  American 
flag  (about  two  feet  or  so)  and  a  white  piece  of 
cloth.  One  of  the  boats  which  they  had,  a  dory, 
was  injured  by  a  storm. 


—43— 

Weather  pleasant  to-day.  Left  Wilcox  Head  for 
the  south  not  far  from  noon.  The  waves,  a  little 
distance  below  Sugar  Loaf  Bay,  named  from 
Sugar  Loaf  Mountain  on  the  island  of  Omenak, 
which  forms  a  hill  called  Sugar  Loaf,  were  cov- 
ered with  a  substance  on  top  like  oil — perhaps  ice 
on  the  water.  The  headlands  were  high  but  were 
pretty  free  from  snow.  Some  islands  stood  at 
some  distance  out  into  the  water  showing  a  red- 
dish brown  ;  a  rather  sqviare  mass  to  the  south  of 
Sugar  Loaf  Bay  and  the  little  island  of  Omenak  in 
the  centre  of  it  were  landmarks. 

It  strikes  me  that  there  must  be  a  good  deal  of 
water  coming  into  Melville  Bay  by  springs,  ice- 
bergs and  glaciers.  It  was  said  that  the  Cornell 
University  party  had  much  good  water  from  a 
stream.  Temperature  about  9.45  p.  m.,  water  34°, 
and  at  8.30  p.  m.,  air  35^°.  Mr.  Operti  took 
the  flag  from  the  cairn  made  by  the  Cornell  Uni- 
versity party.  The  names  of  members  of  this 
party  were  subscribed  by  themselves  upon  it. 
There  were  four  assistants  from  Upernavik  with 
Professor  Tarr. 
September  8th,  Tuesday — In  the  early  morning  at  6.30 
o'clock,  at  the  Danish  Harbor,  at  Upernavik  ;  at 
200  yards  from  the  shore,  about  4^  fathoms — 
water  dark  blue.  At  the  harbor  two  houses  and  a 
powder  house — one  of  the  houses  of  stone  per- 
haps. The  hill  rises  to  about  450  feet  behind  ;  to 
the  east  of  the  houses  a  rocky  hillside.  A  little 
rocky  islet  lies  at  the  mouth  of  the  harbor.  One 
member  of  the  party  obtained  a  pair  of  Esquimau 
boots.       A   light  wind    in    the  morning  followed 


—44— 

by  calmer  weather.  The  Danish  brig  lay  in  the 
harbor,  it  is  said,  when  we  were  in  Upernavik 
before,  this  year.  A  bank  of  clouds  lies  to  the 
west,  probably  over  the  ice  in  the  bay.  Tem- 
perature about  7.45  A.  M.,  water  34!°  ;  at  8 
o'clock  A.  M.,  air  39°.  Dip  to  the  west  and 
east.  Morning.  A  light  breeze  is  springing  up 
from  the  N.W.  The  sun  is  trying  to  come  out 
through  the  clouds.  Two  islands  are  in  sight  in 
the  bay  to  the  west.  A  patch  of  snow  is  lying  on 
the  hillside  over  the  houses.  There  are  many 
promontories  coming  out.  It  is  possible  these  are 
the  remains  of  the  world-forming  epoch.  High 
mountains  behind  Upernavik — five  houses  and  a 
church — a  small  one  fronting  the  brig.  The 
mountains  seem  to  be  about  5000  feet  high,  behind 
to  the  northeast  of  Upernavik.  They  are  much 
broken.  There  is  a  clifif  on  an  island  or  point 
of  the  mainland  south  of  Upernavik  with  a  some- 
what sloped  or  pyramidal  form,  with  a  dyke  of 
light  stone,  gneiss  or  quartz  running  perpendic- 
ularly towards  the  sea  nearly  through  the  top 
of  it.     The  dyke  seems  to  point  east  and  west. 

Left  Upernavik  at  about  8  a.  m.  Not  very  far 
from  the  mountain  called  Sanderson's  Hope.  The 
sides  of  the  clififs  are  quite  steep,  about  80°, 
apparently,  and  are  furrowed  in  water  or  snow 
courses.  There  is  not  much  ice  in  sight.  Last 
vear  is  said  to  have  been  quite  a  pleasant  one  at 
Upernavik — Danish  station.  On  seaweed  brought 
up  from  the  bottom  here  are  the  seed  pods  of 
Buccinum,  a  kind  of  shell  or  coral  with  a  little 
worm    coming   out,    and    Bryozoum.     The    party 


—45— 

from  Cornell  University  dredged  the  shore  and 
found  them  near  Wilcox  Head.  Some  of  the  Cor- 
nell party  went  to  Duck  Islands,  about  ten  miles 
off,  in  a  whale  boat.  The  persons  from  the  Danish 
settlement  knew  the  way  apparently.  It  was  a 
pleasant  day  when  they  went.  Graves  from  whal- 
ing ships  were  found  on  the  islands,  and  gun  shells 
apparently  from  whaling  boats.  The  small  islets 
are  quite  numerous  here,  and  the    coast  is  high. 

Sanderson's  Hope  may  be  3425  feet  high.  Snow 
lies  on  the  northern  side  of  the  hills — the  smoke 
from  the  steamer  rests  in  clouds  or  streaks. 

The  seaweed  was  long,  about  8  or  10  feet  in  the 
harbor,  with  long  stems — and  at  Devil's  Thumb  it 
was  long  also — and  the  same  at  Upernavik.  It  is 
brownish  in  color,  slightly  thicker  in  the  middle 
with  crisped  edges,  sometimes  with  almost  a  hole 
between  the  edges  and  the  sides. 

There  are  ten  grown  dogs  on  board  and  one 
puppy  belonging  to  Mr.  Hansen,  and  we  have  the 
two  bear's  cubs.  The  top-gallant  (high)  yards  of 
the  ship  have  been  taken  down  and  placed  on  top 
of  the  cook's  galley.  There  was  some  rain  at 
Wilcox  Head  while  we  were  away.  The  ship  goes 
now  with  rather  an  easy  motion.  There  may 
have  been  some  movement  towards  the  north 
among  the  Esquimaux.  Much  water  and  fog  here. 
Deer  skins  to  be  had  on  the  coast.  The  fog  hangs 
over  the  mountains  and  cuts  off  the  view  of 
the  top  of  them  like  a  knife.  The  fog  is  dark. 
The  Greenland  ice  sheet  must  contain  a  great 
amount  of  water.  The  barnacles  in  the  bottom 
of  the  sea  near  Holsteinborg   are    quite   numer- 


-46— 

ous.  The  termination  of  many  words  in  the 
Esquimau  language  in  k  is  peculiar,  like  Uper- 
nivik,  Kinivik,  etc.  It  is  thought  that  Esquimaux 
may  have  lived  in  the  houses  on  Wilcox  Head. 
A  double  house  near  Wilcox  Head,  at  the  first 
place  we  stopped  at ;  and  the  remains  of  a  house 
at  the  camp  of  the  Cornell  party,  two  miles  away 
from  it.  There  is  said  to  be  a  large  number  of 
Esquimaux  graves — 20  or  30  graves — near  their 
camping  place — some  with  five  or  six  bodies  per- 
haps— this  is  west  of  Wilcox  Head.  The  dif- 
ferent layers  in  the  stones  at  the  camp  of  the 
Cornell  party,  near  Wilcox  Head,  were  remark- 
able. There  would  sometimes  appear  to  be 
eight  or  ten  layers.  One  stone  about  eight 
inches  thick  was  black  and  white — many  stones 
of  a  reddish  color.  A  gull  at  Meteor  Island 
kept  flying  around,  sometimes  near  the  island. 
The  configuration  of  the  island  would  seem 
to  point  to  its  having  been  connected  once  with 
the  mainland.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  ice 
near  Cape  York  to  judge  from  the  collections  of 
icebergs,  one  of  them  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  or  more 
perhaps,  long.  This  last  mentioned  iceberg  lay 
near  the  edge  of  the  glacier,  near  Cape  York.  I 
was  interested  by  the  apparent  politeness  of  some 
of  the  young  men  at  Cape  York. 

It  is  said  that  a  piece  of  drift  wood  was  seen  at 
or  near  Duck  Islands.  Fossils  of  trees  were  found 
in  Hudson  Strait.  Professor  Asa  Gray  was  in- 
clined to  think,  from  Arctic  fossils,  that  Green- 
land had  once  a  warmer  climate.  The  landscape 
to-day    looks     dark    in   the   September   weather. 


—47— 

The  rocks  between  Upernavik  and  Cape  Cranston, 
or  the  Svarte  Huk  Peninsula,  are  mostly  of  a  dark 
formation.  It  seems  almost  as  if  the  slaty- 
rocks  might  be  used  for  building  material.  Stars 
were  seen  last  night — Vega  and  others — hard 
and  cold  in  appearance.  Professor  Tarr  had 
no  sickness  in  his  camp,  and  no  accident — only 
one  cut  finger  required  iodine,  and  he  had  no  use 
for  his  medicine  chest. 

We  hear  that  no  more  boats  will  come  from  Den- 
mark this  year,  and  Professor  Tarr  carries  letters. 

The  coast  at  Cape  York  impressed  me  as  being 
high — unusually  so — one  becomes  used  to  great 
heights  in  Greenland.  The  Carey  Islands  are  high 
and  rather  square  masses  of  land,  conforming 
somewhat  to  the  plateau  or  cliff-nature  of  the 
shores  on  the  east  of  Smith  Sound.  There  must 
be  some  marine  life  in  Baffin  Bay — perhaps  the 
seaweed  may  remain  as  a  sign  of  what  occurred 
at  a  remote  geologic  period — it  is  quite  large — 
some  rockweed-seaweed,  branching  at  two  or  three 
inches — a  part  of  the  branches  seen  not  far  from 
Cape  Shakelton,  south  of  Sugar  Loaf  Bay. 
The  warmer  character  of  the  water,  if  my  instru- 
ment is  correct,  may  come  from  the  large  body  of 
water  here  with  currents.  Many  whaling  vessels 
must  have  been  here  at  some  time.  If  Greenland 
should  be  found  to  be  an  archipelago  like  a  con- 
tinent in  form,  it  would  show  that  much  ice  and 
snow  have  collected  here.  Baffin  Bay  must  have 
a  great  body  of  ice. 

I  skated  at  Meteor  Island  on  a  glacier,  though 
it   is    rather  rough  and    sloping.      Meteoric   iron 


-48- 

occurs  in  a  great  many  parts  of  the  globe.  The 
land  of  the  Iron  Mountains  is  low  as  they  stretch 
out  into  Melville  Bay.  Some  strata  seem  to  have 
been  found  in  the  high  Arctic  Regions. 

Afternoon — The  clouds  rise  somewhat  and  give 
a  view  of  the  shore.  The  shore  from  Svarte  Huk 
is  quite  bold.  The  promontory  of  Tukingasok  or 
Dark  Cape  stands  out ;  then  another  point,  perhaps 
the  island  of  Kingatok,  is  a  landmark  with  almost 
horizontal  strata. 

The  Arctic  part  of  the  journey  seemed  to  form  a 
country  by  itself.  Great  stretches  of  land  with  ice 
between,  and  Baffin  Bay  and  Smith  Sound  pene- 
trating it — Baffin  Bay  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Upernavik  seems  broad.  There  are  some  icebergs 
floating  on  it.  At  the  northern  part  of  it,  coming 
down,  we  encountered  dense  fog  with  icebergs. 
In  the  north  there  was  much  ice  in  the  bays  and 
small  pieces  stretching  about  as  far  as  one  could 
well  see  from  the  glacier  of  Cape  York.  Captain 
McClintock  was  frozen  in,  17th  August,  1857,  near 
Bushnan  Island,  and  ships  have  been  lost  not  far 
from  there.  There  is  a  pack  of  ice  in  the  middle 
of  the  bay.  The  ice  is  said  to  stop  in  its  northern 
course  around  the  southern  end  of  Greenland  near 
Holsteinborg  or  in  that  neighborhood.  The  Nor- 
wegians are  thought  to  have  come  as  far  north  as 
the  Women's  Islands  of  Baffin,  not  far  from  Uper- 
navik, and  voyagers  from  Iceland  are  said  to  have 
come  to  Lancaster  Sound.  Melville  Bay  has 
promontories  that  stretch  into  it.  By  the  sound- 
ings given  on  the  charts  there  is  a  deep  place  not 
very  far  from  Bushnan  Island  of  about  3©^  fathoms 


—49— 

— with  the  ice  and  icebergs  on  both  ends  of  it  to 
the  north  and  southeast.  The  Bergy  Hole,  a  por- 
tion of  water  famous  for  icebergs,  called  so  on 
this  account,  lies  to  the  northwest  of  the  Devil's 
Thumb.  Persons  have  been  on  shore  at  this 
mountain. 

The  centuries  seem  to  have  shut  in  Melville  Bay 
somewhat. 

The  current  on  the  western  shore  of  Baffin  Bay 
sets  nearly  always  to  the  south. 

There  have  passed  through  here  many  expedi- 
tions— expeditions  in  aid  of  Sir  John  Franklin  ; 
Dr.  Kane's  expedition  ;  the  expedition  in  search 
of  him  ;  the  expedition  of  Dr.  Hayes;  the  Polaris 
expedition  ;  the  expedition  of  Sir  George  Nares  ; 
the  Greely  expedition,  the  ship  being  commanded 
by  Captain  Pike  ;  the  Greely  Relief  expeditions  ; 
the  Peary  expeditions,  etc. 

The  sunlight  in  summer  passes,  and  the  Arctic 
light  commences  in  Smith  Sound  about  the  last  of 
September  or  beginning  of  October.  I  felt  as  if 
the  midnight  sun  were  going  around  me  in  the 
north.  The  grass  in  the  north  is  scanty — the 
blades  about  six  inches  high  and  far  between, 
wither  in  September — little  streams  of  water  in 
some  places  running  over  small  stones.  A  current 
is  said  to  set  towards  the  south  coming  from  Cape 
York  through  Melville  Bay. 

As  the  fog  lifted  this  afternoon  a  mountain  top, 
Sanderson's  Hope,  appeared,  with  a  streak  of  snow 
coming  down  from  it  to  the  west.  A  photograph 
was  made  by  Mr.  Sutherland  of  Sanderson's  Hope. 
There  is  an  Esquimau  tradition  that  when  animals 

4 


—sc- 
are scarce,  or  when  they  do  not  appear,  there  is  a 
sorceress  or  woman  who  keeps  the  animals  back, 
and  that  when  an  angekok,  as  he  is  called,  or  one 
who  has  some  authority,  like  that  of  a  religious 
person,  goes  by  a  quickly-revolving  piece  ot  ice 
and  seals,  he  may  be  able  to  free  them.  A  pre- 
vious expedition  of  Lieut.  Peary  passed  into  Smith 
Sound  visiting  the  Esquimau  settlements,  and 
endeavored  to  raise  the  meteoric  iron. 

The  cold  of  the  Arctic  regions  seemed  not  to  be 
very  great  in  summer,  with  the  appliances  we  had 
for  heating,  in  the  steamer. 

The  food  of  the  whale  is  said  to  be  small  shrimps 
which  occur  in  the  water — said  also  to  be  eaten  by 
the  little  auks,  which  carry  them  to  their  young. 
The  great  ice  fields  which  are  said  to  be  in  Lan- 
caster Sound  must  send  down  large  quantities  of 
ice  into  Baffin  Bay — much  ice  on  the  shores  of 
Cumberland  Sound,  where  the  temperature  is 
affected  by  these  great  fields  of  ice. 

I  cannot  find  much  in  regard  to  the  expedition 
of  the  Swedish  naturalists  Bjorling  and  Cals- 
tenius.  Mr.  Bjorling,  in  a  former  expedition,  en- 
camped near  the  mountain  called  Devil's  Thumb. 

This  expedition  in  the  Schooner  Ripple  went  to 
the  shores  of  the  Carey  Islands.  They  met  a  storm 
and  it  is  possible  that  they  attempted  to  go  across 
to  Cape  Faraday  on  the  opposite  side  of  Smith 
Sound.  There  they  were  thinking  of  meeting 
with  Esquimaux.  The  last  season  was  a  severe 
one  for  dogs  in  some  places  on  the  Greenland 
shore,  and  it  was  severe  at  Godhavn  ;  the  one 
before  may  have  been  so  also.     The  effect  of  the 


—51  — 

sun  in  the  evening  making  the  clovids  appear  red  is 
peculiar  in  the  Arctic  regions.  Near  Wilcox  Head 
I  observed  in  the  evening  vv^hat  seemed  to  be  like 
an  effect  of  the  aurora  borealis.  The  great  sea- 
weed of  the  Arctic  regions  is  quite  remarkable. 
There  is  seaweed  in  the  neighborhood  of  Whale 
Sound.  Some  seaweed  was  found  in  the  bay  north 
of  Mount  Dundas  near  North  Star  Bay. 

The  young  walrus  which  we  captured  seemed  to 
be  quite  tame.  We  called  him  Jack — he  some- 
times raised  his  body — he  was  taken  into  the  ship 
by  a  leg.  Fine  weather  and  fine  sunsets  charac- 
terized the  first  part  of  the  journey.  The  birds 
on  the  bird  cliffs  sat  on  the  ledges  in  rows  and 
have  little  nests  in  the  rocks.  Many  young  were 
found  in  nests  near  the  water.  The  birds  would 
almost  always  sweep  down  upon  the  water  in 
flying  away,  coming  down  like  a  fall  of  snow. 
The  cliffs  were  sometimes  quite  high — at  Parker 
Snow  cliffs  perhaps  a  thousand  feet,  with  guille- 
mots and  gulls.  Kittywake  gulls  upon  them.  At 
Dalrymple  Rocks  were  eider  ducks.  A  nest  of 
the  eider  duck  was  obtained  made  of  grass  cut 
from  the  ground  at  the  west.  On  one  of  the  islands 
in  the  Wolstenholme  Sound  were  cliffs  with  birds. 
Ivory  gulls  may  have  been  found  near  Wilcox 
Head  by  the  Cornell  University  party. 

The  isolation  of  the  land  on  the  north  of  Mel- 
ville Bay  with  magnificent  glaciers,  and  high 
peaks  with  snow  caps,  is  remarkable — a  dark  fog 
would  seem  to  be  rolling  sometimes  near  the  top 
of  the  glacier.  The  land  north  of  Melville  Bay 
might  have  been  flat  and  then  covered  with  snow. 


—52— 

The  settlement  at  Cape  York  is  perhaps  the  only- 
one  on  the  coast  which  is  ahvays  inhabited — skin 
tents  or  tupiks  with  several  persons  and  children 
— 18  large  dogs  and  perhaps  ten  puppies  there. 
Temperature  8.50  o'clock  p.  m.,  water  32°  Fahr. 
September  9th,  Wednesday — Temperature  water  8  p.  m.  32^; 
air  38°.  Arrived  at  Omenak  at  quarter  to  8  in  the 
morning.  Saw  Professor  Burton  and  others. 
Captain  Bartlett  tied  the  ship  to  the  rocks — we 
lay  near  a  rock  off  the  mouth  of  the  harbor  to  the 
east.  A  rock,  it  is  said,  lies  in  the  middle  of  the 
entrance  to  the  harbor.  The  party  from  the  Insti- 
tute of  Technology  had  arrived  last  night.  They 
had  been  on  the  Karajak  glacier  about  15  miles, 
five  hours  ascending,  walking  against  the  wind 
and  sometimes  running.  They  had  two  guides, 
the  governor,  so  called — of  the  Karajak  Valley, 
who  was  an  Esquimau,  I  think,  and  one  other,  an 
Esquimau.  A  significant  Danish  word  is  coloni- 
bestyrer,  colony  steerer,  but  I  do  not  know  the 
application  of  it. 

A  party  from  our  ship  went  on  shore  and  Lieut. 
Peary,  Mr.  S.  and  myself  visited  the  governor  of 
Omenak.  His  name  was  Herr  Knudsen.  His  wife 
was  there.  Both  spoke  English  well.  They  had  a 
fine  dog.  I  walked  to  the  flagstaff  on  the  hill. 
Three  or  four  beams  filled  in  with  stones  bore  the 
flagstaff  at  the  village.  I  went  a  little  further  on 
to  a  hill  with  another  cairn  on  it.  There  was 
quite  a  view  of  the  glacier,  the  Karajak  glacier  to 
the  east,  and  a  mountain  with  a  sharp  point  on 
the  mainland.  There  is  an  island  in  Umanak 
Fjord,  Ubekjendt   Island,  and  a  square  piece   of 


—53— 

rock,  an  island,  to  the  east  of  the  harbor  of 
Umanak.  The  dip  of  the  strata  on  the  mountain 
is  about  40°  horizontal  descent  from  the  level 
towards  the  south.  The  mountain  is  mostly  of  red 
rock  but  has  some  dark  seams — limestone  near 
the  middle  of  it — the  top  is  divided  into  several 
summits  or  knobs — it  is  rather  difficult  of  ascent. 
Mr.  Putnam  had  a  little  observation  place  in  the 
garden  of  the  house  where  they  were  and  had 
made  some  observations  by  the  mountain. 

In  the  afternoon  at  about  4  o'clock,  Governor 
Knudsen  came  on  board  with  his  wife,  and  Pas- 
tor Bosso  and  his  wife.  They  were  entertained 
by  Lieut.  Peary.  In  three  trips  to  Greenland  I 
have  accepted  most  kindly  courtesies  from  Gov- 
ernor Anderson  at  Godhavn,  Governor  Knudsen 
and  party  at  Omenak,  Governor  Hendrickson  at 
Niakornat,  and  Governor  Jorgensen  at  Nugsuak, 
Governor  Franzen  at  Holsteinborg,  and  Gov- 
ernor Baumann  at  Godhaab.  We  were  told  that 
the  last  winter  was  quite  cold,  and  that  snow 
commences  here  about  the  latter  part  of  Septem- 
ber. They  had  had  no  snow  before  this.*  In 
the  evening  at  Omenak  Bay  at  about  6,50  o'clock, 
temperature  water  ;^^°,  air  39°.  The  minister 
of  the  whole  parish  of  Omenak,  Herr  Bosso,  was 
appointed  by  the  king  of  Denmark.  He  came 
from  Jakobshavn  and  thinks  he  may  remain  here 
for  some  years. 

*  A  Danish  writer  says  that  on  November  7th  the  sun  shines  for  the 
last  time  at  Umanak,  but  continues  to  light  the  mountain  tops  at  noon 
for  twelve  days  longer,  and  after  having  announced  its  return  in  a  sim- 
ilar way,  it  again  makes  its  appearance  on  February  2d. 


—54— 

At  Upernavik  the  number  of  inhabitants  in  the 
district  and  districts  north  were  given  as  quite 
considerable,  about  140. 

There  was  a  burying  ground  near  Omenak  with 
one  enclosure  with  a  tombstone  : 

Hans  Martin  Fleischer,  born  1790, 

died   1871  ;  age  about  81. 
His  wife,   F.  Tetzlaf,  born   1798, 
died   1850. 
Free  from  dust  (of  earth.) 

There  was  a  marble  tombstone  at  Omenak.  I 
counted  50  graves.  There  were  about  five  or  eight 
enclosures  and  many  crosses — one  enclosure,  I 
think,  was  of  a  family  named  Moldrup,  another 
for  a  ship's  officer  named  Herr  Moberg. 
September  loth,  Thursday — At  about  6  p.  m.  stopped  at 
Nugsuak.  Found  the  surveying  party — went  on 
shore — the  governor  came  on  board.  I  met  a  per- 
son I  had  seen  before,  the  pilot  whom  we  had  when 
I  was  there  before  on  the  schooner  Zeta.  His  name 
was  said  to  be  Molle.  He  had  two  children,  grown 
up,  on  the  ship.  I  went  to  the  "  Bjornefjaeldet,"  a 
structure  with  walls  about  5}^  feet  thick,  the  stone 
laid  with  a  smooth  surface  outside  and  in,  the  in- 
side room  about  9  feet  by  4)4.  The  stones  at  three 
of  the  corners  of  the  Bjornefjaeldet  large,  about 
3  feet  long  by  i)4  feet  high,  and  perhaps  2  feet 
broad.  Good  grass  near.  The  Bjornefjaeldet 
is  situated  about  one  mile  northeast  of  the  village 
of  Nugsuak  (or  Noursoak),  on  the  shore  with 
another  piece  of  high  land  to  the  west,  with  a  cairn 
on  the  top  of  it.     Two  sinall  heaps  of  stones  near 


—55  — 

the  Bjornefjaeldet,  one  oblong,  about  2  feet  i  inch 
long  and  4  inches  high.  This  smaller  structure, 
pointing  to  the  sea,  may  have  been  perhaps  a  meat 
cache.  The  origin  of  the  Bjornefjaeldet  is  a  mys- 
tery, and  it  is  an  interesting  ruin,  the  only  ancient 
one  in  North  Greenland  that  may  have  been  of 
European  origin. 

Mr.  George  Bartlett's  fossil  party  were  quite 
successful  in  their  search.  Their  camp  was  on 
the  plain  to  the  south  of  the  village  of  Nugsuak, 
about  half  a  mile  from  it — they  had  two  tents. 
The  Governor  was  very  attentive.  They  would 
send  a  boy  from  the  village  every  evening  to  invite 
the  party  in  camp  to  a  dance  at  the  village.  They 
had  come  north  from  Atanikerdluk,  stopping 
two  days  and  a  half  on  one  promontory.  Foggy 
in  the  morning  with  some  rain.  Started  about 
half  past  eight  or  nine  o'clock  for  the  Waigat. 
12.55  o'clock  temperature,  water  35°,  air,  38°. 
Stopped  about  six  o'clock  at  Patoot.  Fossils 
brought  by  Mr.  George  Bartlett  from  Atanikerdluk 
taken  aboard — one  fossil  tree  trunk  from  a 
height  of  400  or  450  feet — all  of  it  could  not  be 
obtained — greyish — about  8  inches  through  the 
trunk — the  whole  length  about  12  or  14  feet — 
pieces  of  the  root  also  found.  One  fossil  was 
dark  coal-colored,  perhaps  a  fern  or  a  palm,  about 
12  inches  in  the  largest  diameter — and  90  or  100 
pieces  with  fossil  remains  of  plants — about  20 
pieces  isolated  of  coal  ranging  from  a  foot  long  by 
6  or  8  inches  or  so,  to  pieces  3  or  4  inches  square. 

Off  a  high  hill  in  the  Waigat  channel,  the  vessel 
stopped   and  a  boat    went   ashore.     Lieut.    Peary 


-56- 

was  in  it.  It  came  back  slowly,  rowed  as  if  it 
were  heavily  loaded — a  long  chest  was  in  it  and 
pieces  of  stone  at  the  bottom,  petrified  wood  and 
plants  as  if  the  deposit  of  centuries  had  been 
opened  and  objects  of  great  interest  brought  out. 
Temperature,  about  9  p.  m.,  water  34"".  At  Kardluk 
Mr.  Bartlett  had  about  100  or  more  fossils;  eight 
miles  further  down  many  more  again. 
September  nth,  Friday — Made  way — saw  Flakkerhuk,  a 
longish  low  promontory  and  the  mountain  Scand- 
sen.  Its  summit  is  about  3800  feet  high  and  has 
si»rows  of  strata  near  its  top — saw  snow  on  it. 
It  stands  behind  Flakkerhuk.  It  is  said  that  at 
one  time  there  were  many  walruses  near  the  mouth 
of  a  valley  near  Disko  and  the  Danish  Governor 
sent  out  Esquimaux  who  killed  those  nearest  the 
sea,  and  as  other  animals  did  not  like  to  pass  the 
dead  walruses  they  captured  150. 

At  Atanikerdluk  last  evening  many  fossils  were 
brought  on  board,  perhaps  a  hundred.  Some 
quite  large  pieces  of  grayish  rock  and  some 
slabs  of  reddish  rock.  Some  in  the  greyish 
rock  seemed  to  be  a  kind  of  large  reed  or  splinter 
of  a  tree  about  an  inch  and  a  quarter  across  and 
some  pieces  3  inches  long.  In  yellowish  rock  in 
slabs  about  ^  of  an  inch  thick  were  two  large 
specimens  with  long  spikes  branching  from  a  stem 
about  half  of  an  inch  through  at  the  top  ;  temper- 
ature at  9.26  A.  M.,  water  34°,  at  9.45  a.  m.,  air  2>9}i° ■ 
About  12  o'clock  at  Godhavn.  Walked  toward 
the  shore  beacon.  Were  on  board  the  Hope  at 
5^  p.  M.  Thermometer  about  9.40  p.  m.,  34°. 
Started  from  Godhavn  about  8  o'clock  in  the  even- 


—57— 

ing.  It  blew  quite  hard  after  the  evening  and 
during  the  night.  A  gentleman  in  behalf  of  a 
party  in  the  cabin  presented  Lieut.  Peary  with 
some  bird  skins  to  make  a  mantle  for  his  little 
daughter  on  her  birthday.  Lieut.  Peary  feelingly 
and  ably  replied. 

September  12th,  Saturday — In  Baffin  Bay — windy  some- 
what. Temperature,  air  about  32°.  Last  night 
for  ten  hours  we  made  about  one  mile  an  hour. 
In  the  afternoon  of  this  day  speed  7  knots  an  hour. 
Some  sails  set. 

September  13th,  Sunday — Land  in  sight  at  6^  o'clock, 
probably  Idjuk,  Cape  Walsingham — wind  from  the 
north  or  north  by  east — rather  stormy.  About  10 
o'clock,  temperature  air  40°.  The  land  quite  high 
with  snow  on  top  of  the  hills,  the  peaks  about 
covered. 

September  14th,  Monday — Temperature  at  about  11.30 
o'clock,  A.  M.,  water  29°.  No  bottom  at  23  fath- 
oms. Near  the  entrance  of  Cumberland  Sound 
(Esquimau)  Tinikdjuarbing. 

There  is  a  nearly  continuous  view  of  ice.  The 
shore  of  the  east  coast  of  Baffin  Land  or  Cumber- 
land Island  does  not  seem  to  be  very  high  ;  one 
island  marked  on  the  chart  ;  many  islands  are 
in  sight  to  the  northeast.  Leopold  Island  seems 
to  be  perhaps  600  feet  high — the  land  back  of  it 
seems  a  little  higher.  Cape  Mercy  probably  lies 
to  the  south  of  Leopold  Island,  and  Coburg  Island, 
which  is  8  or  10  miles  long,  to  the  southeast. 
The  cliffs  are  towards  the  sea,  sometimes  with 
black-like  heads  with  apparently  recesses  between 
them  and  there  are  patches  of  snow  on   the  hills. 


-58- 

Some  mountain  tops  to  the  N.E.  are  covered 
with  snow.  On  Leopold  Island  there  is  a  kind  of 
square  projection  of  grayish  rock,  perhaps  lime- 
stone. I  do  not  see  signs  of  fish — no  animal  or 
bird  appears  to  be  in  the  immediate  neighborhood 
except  bears,  for  there  are  bear  tracks.  The  ice 
seems  to  be  about  i6  or  20  feet  deep,  sometimes 
with  small  pinnacles — sometimes  with  small  tables 
on  supporting  single  columns  ;  and  a  few,  perhaps 
20  small  icebergs  about  75  feet  long  and  30  feet 
high,  are  in  sight.  One  iceberg  of  quite  large  size 
about  250  feet  in  length  to  the  S.W. — at  noon  the 
thermometer  near  the  deck  rises  to  50°,  or  perhaps 
higher;  the  snow  is  dazzling.  Some  of  the  passen- 
gers, another  and  I,  have  goggles,  the  other  per- 
sons, pair  of  goggles  made  of  mica,  large  and  fit- 
ting to  the  face.  There  are  some  clouds  near  the 
horizon,  light  white  on  the  land,  near  the  sea 
darker  ;  the  centre  of  the  sky  is  clear  and  light 
blue.  We  seem  to  be  in  the  lead  of  open  water 
to  the  N.E.  of  Leopold  Island. 

There  are  several  projecting  headlands  shaped 
something  like  islands  in  view  to  the  west  and 
northwest. 

Last  night  there  was  a  display  of  the  aurora 
borealis,  white  masses  and  spires  projecting  up- 
wards from  near  the  horizon  to  the  south  and  west  ; 
in  the  early  part  of  the  display,  about  7  o'clock, 
I  think,  reaching  almost  or  quite  to  the  region 
around  the  north.  It  was  discussed  how  the 
lights  should  appear  to  the  south  of  us.  There 
were  many  stars  visible  last  night,  almost  all  ap- 
parently north  of  the  Great  Bear,  the  North  Star 


—sp- 
ate.    We  have  seen  stars  since  arriving  at  Disco. 
It  is  said  that  they  appear  on  this  side  of  Baffin 
Bay,  at  Pond's  Bay,  about  the  23d  of  August  or  so. 

(The  midnight  sun  obscures  the  stars,  even  the 
North  Star — the  midnight  sun  begins  at  Wilcox 
Head  or  Cape  York  and  is  lost  after  coming  back 
to  this  position.) 

Work  has  been  going  on  now  for  a  good  many 
days  in  boxing  up  articles  and  preparing  bundles 
of  skins,  etc.,  for  the  exhibition  at  the  American 
Museum,  and  for  different  persons.  To-day  the 
small  galley  here  which  was  toward  the  larboard 
side  of  the  ship  has  been  again  put  towards  the 
center  of  the  ship.     One  boat  was  lost. 

Shifting  coal  for  the  bunkers  has  been  going  on. 
The  dogs,  ten  or  so,  are  tied  in  the  forward  part 
of  the  ship.  The  bears'  cage  got  loose  during  the 
storm  three  nights  ago,  but  the  cage  was  secured 
with  rope.  In  the  morning  Lieut.  Peary  went  on 
the  ice  and  tried  it  with  a  pole,  making  one  lead 
about  6  or  7  feet.  In  the  afternoon  I  went  on  the 
ice — there  was  a  hummock  about  5  feet  high  under 
the  bow  of  the  boat,  and  afterwards  Mr.  G.  Holli- 
field  went  off  about  250  feet  and  took  views  with 
a  camera. 

Temperature  water,  29.8  degrees  at  6.35  in  the 
evening — air,  same  time,  on  deck,  34°.  Started 
under  way  about  6.30  p.  m.  The  captain  had  gone 
up  in  the  fore  rigging  in  the  afternoon.  The  ice 
seemed  a  little  less  solid  about  10  o'clock.  I 
think  a  swell  was  coming  in  from  the  outside. 
Lieut.  Peary  remarked  it,  and  also  said  that  per- 
haps if  the  wind  should  rise  the  whole  body  of  ice 


— 6o— 

would  pass  away  almost  instantaneously,  and  leave 
free  passage  for  the  ship  where  the  ice  was  seen 
now.  About  6.45  p.  M.,  the  ship  going  quite  fast 
seemingly,  nearly  at  full  speed  through  ice.  Lieut. 
Peary  says  that  almost  the  whole  of  Baffin  Bay 
freezes  over,  leaving  a  small  strip  of  open  water, 
kept  open  by  the  current  along  the  shore  to  Hol- 
steinborg  and  perhaps  also  to  Disco. 

Aurora  borealis  in  evening — mostly  in  the  north 
passing  over  to  the  southward.  A  light  cloud  like 
a  veil  and  a  kind  of  glow  over  the  ship  with  rays 
or  flames  of  whitish  light. 
September  15th,  Tuesday — Thermometer  about  10.30  a.  m., 
25^°  water,  air  about  71° — thermometer,  it  is 
said,  27°  last  night.  Went  on  a  little  in  the  night 
— some  damage  came  within  3  miles  perhaps  of 
Coburg  Island,  to  the  north  of  it. 

Mr.  George  Bartlett  and  one  besides  went  to 
Coburg  Island  ;  there  is  a  piece  of  stone  nearly 
square  or  oblong-shaped,  standing  on  top  of  the 
island. 

In  the  afternoon  walked  on  the  ice,  on  a  pan  of 
ice  near  by  with  a  little  lake  on  it,  with  Mr.  Holli- 
field.  Lieut.  Peary  and  Mr.  Martin,  Mr.  Dodge 
and  others  on  the  ice.  A  line  of  fog  came  up  in 
the  afternoon  and  evening.  The  ship  moved  a 
little  backward  from  Coburg  Island.  The  line  of 
fog  was  like  a  segment  of  a  circle  in  the  sky  to  the 
west.  Towards  the  east  were  two  lines  of  dark  fog 
above  the  horizon.  Aurora  borealis  in  the  evening. 
Thermometer,  7.32  p.m.,  water,  25Y''y°;  air,  29°. 
September  16th,  Wednesday — Off  Cape  Mercy.  A  fog  in 
the  morning,  and  there  was  some  fog  that  came 


-6i- 


from  the  north  last  evening.  There  was  a  little 
phosphorescence  in  the  water.  There  is  some 
conversation  about  fish.  About  quarter  of  lo  a.  m. 
it  commenced  to  snow.  Going  a  little  forward  at 
half  speed. 

Sighted  land — Cape  Mercy — about  12.30  o'clock, 
then  saw  several  promontories  on  the  north.  The 
promontories  are  moderately  high,  about  500  or  700 
feet  perhaps.  Coburg  Island  is  said  to  be  some 
300  feet  high.  Cape  Mercy,  Uibarun,  probably  pro- 
nounced Wibarun,as  Ovifak  is  pronounced  Wifak, 
by  the  Esquimaux  spelled  in  Danish  Uifak,  a  bold 
promontory  which  runs  nearly  straight  into  the  sea 
with  a  gently  rounded  summit,  perhaps  1,700  or 
2,000  feet  high.  We  left  the  ice  mostly  before 
reaching  the  cape.  A  fog  was  on  the  water,  but  it 
cleared  up  in  the  afternoon,  and  we  could  get  quite 
a  good  view  of  the  shore.  One  promontory,  quite 
regular,  in  the  form  of  a  truncated  pyramid,  gray 
in  color.  There  seemed  almost  no  vegetation  on  the 
side  of  the  promontory.  There  were  some  ducks 
in  the  water,  and  a  kind  of  raven  or  gull  flew  not 
far  from  the  boat.  The  water  was  quite  smooth — 
afterward  a  little  ripple  came — the  fog  about  4 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  pretty  heavy.  Before 
this  there  were  some  stretches  of  land  not  very 
high,  visible  on  the  south  side  of  the  sound.  We 
were  steering  a  course  almost  true  west — the  ship 
making  about  six  knots  an  hour  at  one  time.  Cum- 
berland Sound  is  said  to  have  been  a  point  on  the 
coast  early  visited  by  ships  in  whaling. 

Evening,  6.22,  water  about  38°  ;  air,  38°  ;  foggy 
in  the  evening. 


—62  — 

"Thalarpia,  Thalarpia,  the  land  of  the  free 
Where  each  stone  has  a  tale, 
The  home  of  the  rock 
And  the  haunt  of  the  whale." 

September  17th,  Thursday — Snowing  in  the  morning — 
about  8  o'clock  opposite  a  cliff  of  Black  Lead 
Island.  Temperature  water  38°  ;  air,  about  39°  ; 
at  9.38,  air  30°. 

Ngantilik  or  Niantilik  has  about  three  houses 
— one  a  store,  prominent  on  the  shore,  and  a 
little  hill  is  behind  the  bold,  steep  point  to  the 
north  of  the  settlement — the  ship  came  within 
about  300  feet  of  the  point — the  water  said  to 
be  shallow^  in  the  bay — a  strong  wind  blowing 
in  the  early  part  of  the  day  toward  the  west,  with 
thick  snow — the  place  originally  belonged  to  the 
Williams  firm  of  New  London,  Conn.,  U.  S.  A., 
now  to  a  Scotch  person — Lieut.  Peary  went  with 
a  boat  towards  the  shore — all  in  the  boat  when  it 
was  lowered,  two  persons  lowered  it,  and  it  was 
promptly  unhooked  —  Lieut.  Peary  unhooked 
the  pulley  at  the  stern,  Mr.  Geo.  Bartlett 
steering,  some  four  men  rowing,  the  waves  curl- 
ing over  with  wind  and  snow — the  boat  was 
pulled  toward  the  shore — Captain  Bartlett  on  the 
bridge  of  the  steamer,  and  Mr.  Smith.  The  island 
to  the  west  was  seen — the  ship  went  outside  of 
the  point  to  the  north.  The  weather  had  been 
quite  thick  in  the  morning.  Only  two  persons 
aboard  had  been  to  Black  Lead  Island,  or  Nian- 
tilik before,  Lieut.  Peary  and  the  steward  of  the 
Hope.  Curry  and  rice  for  breakfast  in  the 
morning   and    hot    biscuit.     There    seems   to   be 


-63- 

some  vegetation  on  the  hillsides  here,  grass  ap- 
parently, and  some  near  the  village — the  store- 
house stands  on  a  little  eminence  near  the  sea 
at  the  foot  of  the  east  side  of  the  bay — tupiks 
near  it — there  are  a  few  small  pieces  of  ice  near 
the  shore.  9.30  a.  m.  the  snow  storm  cleared 
away  north.  About  10.30  a.  m.  the  pilot  came 
on  board,  and  four  or  five  Esquimaux  in  fur 
clothing  and  wool  caps.  There  was  a  very  neat 
pilot  boat — fastened  to  the  stern  with  two  lines — 
we  came  to  our  harbor  some  three  miles  away — 
the  soundings  were,  I  think,  about  18,  17,  15^  and 
14  fathoms.  There  were  smooth  places  in  the  front 
of  some  cliffs — went  on  shore.  These  rocks  to  the 
south  of  Niantilik  harbor,  with  some  stratifica- 
tions about  five  feet  or  so  apart,  dip  about  25 
degrees  and  sometimes  more  to  the  west.  The 
end  of  the  harbor,  southeast  apparently,  was  the 
bed  of  a  glacier — beyond  a  small  lake  some  high 
peaks — much  light  snow  on  the  ground — some 
andromeda  I  think,  small  fir-like  shrubs  four- 
sided — much  heather.  One  straggling  bush  about 
four  feet  long  had  some  yellow  flowers,  near  the 
sea — Esquimaux  here — mica — near  the  white  mica 
are  some  dark  yellow  stones,  feldspar  seemingly, 
and  tourmaline.  Thermometer  p.  m.  nearly  29' — 
thermometer  32°  later. 
September  i8th,  Friday — At  about  9  a.  m.  temperature,  air 
33°  ;  temperature  water  28^%°. 

At  Niantilik  Harbor — White  and  black  mica  are 
said  to  vary  in  the  amount  of  iron  they  contain  ; 
tourmaline,  a  different  mineral  from  black  mica, 
occurring  in  larger  crystals.    The  morning  opened 


-64- 

bright  with  some  clouds.  There  were  stars  visi- 
ble last  night  almost  directly  overhead,  but  it  wis 
quite  cloudy — the  settlement  is  said  to  be  nearly 
seven  miles  from  here.  Mr.  Putnam  and  Mr. 
Porter  were  on  the  shore  last  night,  Mr.  Putnam 
making  observations  with  the  pendulum,  I  think. 
They  had  a  tent.  Mr.  Porter  said  it  was  not 
very  cold  in  the  night.  There  is  a  burying-place 
for  men  in  the  whaling  service  near  here  on  a 
point — there  are  said  to  be  headstones — there  is 
also  an  Esquimau  graveyard  near  here.  There  is  a 
gentleman  named  Mr.  Sheridan  at  the  head  of  this 
station.  He  says  that  there  are  about  146  Esqui- 
maux here.  Some  Esquimau  ladies  here  dress  with 
long  skirts  and  trains,  as  in  civilized  countries. 

I  found  a  walrus  skull  on  the  shore  with  stumps 
of  tusks  near  eye  sockets,  a  hole  above  the  nose, 
teeth  crooked. 

There  is  seaweed  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  here. 
Dark  rocks  appear  to  be  covered  with  kelp  or 
seaweed.  The  burying  ground  here  for  seamen 
on  the  whaling  ships  was  on  a  smooth  piece  of 
ground  between  large  rocks.  The  head  boards 
were  square  with  rounded  corners  bound  around 
with  hoop  iron  which  made  them  strong.  Some 
were  painted  black  and  some  were  weather- 
beaten — the  inscriptions  cut  in  with  a  knife. 

At  Black  Eead  Island — some  40  families  of 
from  two  to  four  persons  each.  In  all  Cumberland 
Sound  there  are  between  300  and  400  inhabitants. 
Umanarsuak  is  the  Esquimau  name  for  Black  Lead 
Island.  Mr.  Sheridan  tells  me  he  was  quite  a  long 
time  in  New  London,  Conn.,  U.  S.  A. 


-65- 

Cape  Harrison  is  on  an  island  near  Black  Lead 
Island — a  region  near  this,  or  including  it  perhaps, 
is  called  the  Farm.  It  is  a  bold  rounded  head- 
land about  1500  or  2000  feet  high.  There  are 
two  deep  islets  beyond  this.  I  visited  the  Whaler's 
burying  ground  at  Niantilik  harbor.  The  inscrip- 
tions are  at  the  close  of  this  Journal.  In  the  after- 
noon we  went  to  Black  Lead  Island. 

We  went  on  shore  at  the  settlement  at  Black 
Lead  Island — there  seemed  to  be  about  20  tupiks 
or  so,  with  many  dogs.  The  ground  is  rocky. 
The  settlement  is  to  the  south  of  a  hill.  There 
is  one  principal  building  with  flag  stones  in 
front  of  it,  a  chapel  and  some  other  dwell- 
ings. One  dwelling,  belonging  to  a  gentleman, 
has  a  canvas  covering,  built  long,  about  six 
or  seven  feet  high  with  sloping  sides.  It  has 
a  door  and  window,  I  think,  in  front.  Some  of  the 
Esquimau  houses  have  doors.  There  were  some 
ten  whaleboats  about  25  feet  long.  The  whale- 
boat  which  came  out  to  meet  the  Hope  had 
a  post  in  the  stern  so  as  only  to  employ  one 
steerer.  There  was  a  row  of  barrels  near  the  cen- 
ter of  the  settlement  with  whalebone  piled  inside 
The  whalebone,  it  is  said,  hangs  from  the  coronal 
bone  of  the  whale.  The  whale  opens  his  mouth, 
the  small  shrimps,  etc.,  go  in,  then  he  swallows. 
The  throat  of  the  whale  is  not  large.  There 
was  a  large  whale  skull  near  the  center  of  the 
settlement,  and  some  deer  skins.  Some  persons 
there  went  quite  a  distance  to  get  water.  At 
Black  Lead  there  came  on  board  as  passengers. 
Rev.  Mr.  Peck,  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 

5 


—66— 

land,  and  a  gentleman  by  the  name  of  Jensen,  who 
was  interested  in  business  matters  at  Black  Lead 
Island.  Mr.  Jensen  was  six  days  on  an  icefloe  in 
Frobisher  Bay  without  anything  to  eat  or  drink. 
He  was  endeavoring  to  save  some  persons  who 
were  drowned. 

Temp  about  up.  m.,  water  28  -j\°.  Temp,  air 
about  31°. 
September  19th,  Saturday  —  Temperature,  about  10.06 
A.  M.,  32.05°.  On  the  way  to  the  south  from 
Black  Lead  Island  we  passed  three  small  islands 
lying  near  a  cape.  Cape  Inukaktung  on  the 
chart.  Quite  a  head  wind  blowing,  There 
were  some  clouds  over  the  land  to  the  right, 
two  or  three  icebergs  were  in  sight  towards 
the  sea,  one  much  eaten  away,  having  a  sharp 
point,  in  a  bay  of  an  island;  one  of  the  nearest 
islands  was  of  gray  rock  broken  by  almost  regu- 
lar fissures  into  blocks ;  pieces  apparently  about 
six  feet  square — the  islands  are  not  high.  Beyond 
these  on  the  west  was  a  very  broken  country — 
the  mountain  peaks  apparently  about  1500  feet 
high,  almost  all  pointed  but  some  square;  one 
bold  cliff  north  of  the  island  rose,  nearly  a  square 
block,  about  1200  feet  sheer  from  the  water  ;  the 
water  dark  blue  with  some  white  caps,  and  on 
rounding  the  islands  there  was  a  heavy  swell. 
Beyond,  as  laid  down  on  the  Danish  chart,  was  a 
row  of  small  islands,  perhaps  each  half  a  mile  to 
three  miles  long — I  counted  four — some  rather 
square  at  the  top — one  rounded  island  made  the 
view  to  the  south — there  seemed  some  indenta- 
tions in  the  land  behind.     All  the  peaks  had  light 


-67- 

snow  on  them.     They  presented  the  view  of  moun- 
tain Alps  from  the  sea. 

September  20th,  Sunday — Thermometer,  8  o'clock  a.  m., 
air  about  34°.  Temperature  about  6.30  p.  m., 
water  a  little  under  32°,  air  about  30°.  At  12 
o'clock  Hall's  Island  of  Frobisher  was  seen. 
About  a  ton  of  whalebone  was  taken  on  board 
by  Mr.  Jensen,  said  to  be  valued  at  $10,000. 
There  was  service  in  the  forward  cabin  at  ten 
o'clock — the  service  of  the  Church  of  England, 
conducted  by  Rev.  Mr.  Peck,  a  missionary  from 
England  to  the  Esquimaux  for  many  years — he 
came  on  board  at  Black  Lead  Island. 

September  21st,  Monday — Temperature  8.10  a.  m.,  water 
So^^°,  air  36%°.  In  the  morning  early,  land  was 
seen — at  Cape  Chidley  ;  at  noon  somewhat  south 
of  the  four  peaks.     The  weather  rather  cool. 

September  2 2d,  Tuesday — It  blew  somewhat  in  the  even- 
ing and  night  before  this — in  the  daytime  pleasant 
— slight  wind  from  the  southwest — two  square 
sails  set,  and  the  back  and  fore  and  aft  sail  and  a 
jib  sail. 

Course  about  50°  W.  long.  About  this  time 
put  piece  of  whale  jaw  from  Wilcox  Head  in 
the  hold — also  mineralogical  box  in  the  hold  be- 
low the  cabin. 

Temperature,  evening  at  6.35,  water  32°;  about 
ten  o'clock  evening,  temperature  water,  I  think 
30°. 

September  23d,  Wednesday — Entrance  of  Hamilton  Bay  to 
Rigoulet,  the  north  point  of  entrance.  In  the 
evening  before  saw  the  Milk  Maid's  path  in  the 
sky — sign  of  pleasant  weather  in  the  morning. 


-68- 


The  Hope  came  quite  fast  from  its  last  noon 
position.  In  the  morning  at  about  8  o'clock  we 
were  a  little  north  of  the  White  Bear  Island. 
There  were  some  low  rocks,  and  Bull  Dog  island, 
hardly  more  than  a  rock,  lay  to  the  northeast. 
There  was  very  little  wind — a  schooner  was 
seen  near  the  shore,  the  first  one  seen  coming 
south — it  was  near  Brig  Harbor,  standing  to  the 
south,  looking  something  like  the  Minnie  Mac, 
apparently  about  60  tons — it  was  on  the  south 
side  of  Brig  Harbor,  I  think.  We  passed  the 
mouth  of  Hamilton  Inlet,  which  is  not  very  deep — 
quite  a  place  for  codfish — in  Hamilton  Inlet  are 
blackfish  which  grow  perhaps  a  foot  or  a  foot  and 
a  half  long,  and  are  called  rocklings — they  are 
caught  in  some  numbers,  and  in  winter  are  caught 
through  the  ice.  There  was  a  fishing  establish- 
ment at  the  north  point  of  Hamilton  Inlet,  and 
the  second  officer  on  the  Hope  came  from  a  family 
some  of  whom  were  there.  Temperature,  7  p.  m., 
water  36°. 

At  the  entrance  of  Hamilton  Inlet  there  is  a 
rock  called  Hughes  Rock  which  is  said  to  be  11 
miles  from  the  east  side  of  Indian  Island  or  har- 
bor. Then  7  miles  from  that  is  the  middle  Easter. 
Then  3  miles  from  that  is  the  other  S.E.  rock. 
There  is  said  to  have  been  a  very  large  glacier 
filling  the  whole  of  Hamilton  Inlet.  This  may 
have  stretched  some  distance  into  the  sea,  and 
formed  a  large  rocky  moraine  or  sandy  ledge  or 
shoal  going  into  the  sea.  The  air  seems  to  be  a 
little  warmer  though  the  thermometer  in  the  water 
does  not  seem  to  register  a  very  much  higher  tem- 


-69- 

perature.  There  is  a  little  breeze  springing  up 
from  the  northeastward  and  sails  are  set,  two  on 
foremast  and  others. 
September  24th,  Thursday — Thermometer  about  10  o'clock 
near  Belle  Isle,  nearly  S.  of  Greenly  Island  and 
opposite  St.  John's  Bay,  water  about  36°.  Passed 
Belle  Isle  lighthouse,  and  Greenly  Island  light- 
house— saw  several  schooners  to  the  north,  and 
another  one  under  sail  northward — an  Allan  boat 
near  the  Newfoundland  coast — a  whale  or  por- 
poise between  us  and  the  Labrador  shore — a 
school  of  porpoises  not  far  from  the  boat.  Saw 
two  steamers,  one  going  west  with  red  and  white 
and  black  funnel — the  other  going  east  with  red 
and  black  funnel.  A  bright  day  and  the  sea  quite 
smooth — in  the  southern  part  of  the  straits  a  kind 
of  reddish  appearance  on  the  top  of  the  water 
almost  like  seaweed — one  of  the  vessels,  the  one 
coming  from  the  eastward,  had  a  place  raised  on 
deck,  it  was  said  for  cattle — there  are  three  rather 
high  peaks  with  high  land  to  the  east,  near  Blanc 
Sablon  or  Forteau.  There  were  some  clouds  in 
the  sky.  In  the  afternoon  the  sun  shone  out  some- 
what from  within  the  clouds — there  was  fog  to  the 
southward — the  coast  of  Newfoundland  was  in 
good  sight — about  2.40  o'clock  p.  m.  two  jib  sails 
were  set. 

There  are  now,  where  we  are,  many  clouds  in 
the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence — towards  the  south 
round  masses  of  fleecy  clouds — and  then  clouds 
in  the  sky  overhead — mottled  fleecy  clouds.  The 
coast  of  Newfoundland  has  some  snow  —  the 
mountains    look  blue  near  the  sea — the  ship  has 


— 70— 

been  going  in    the    morning  at   the    rate   of   6% 
knots. 

The  wind  is  quite  light  from  the  westward, 
making  a  little  wave  on  the  water — the  water  has 
a  color  of  dark  blue,  or  is  almost  of  a  black  shade 
— there  are  yellow  or  golden  streaks  in  the  sky 
towards  the  sun  in  the  south — a  comparatively  open 
place  in  the  sky  appears  at  the  east  and  one  also 
at  the  northwest.  There  is  another  sail  set — the 
fore  and  aft  sail  at  the  mainmast — also  fore  and 
aft  sail  at  the  mizzenmast,  and  a  three-cornered 
top  sail  at  the  mizzen  mast.  The  coast  of  New- 
foundland has  some  indentations — St.  Genevieve 
Bay,  St.  John's  Bay,  Port  au  Choix.  The  land  is 
quite  high,  perhaps  2000  or  2500  feet.  There  are 
several  high  points  which  come  out  to  the  west 
towards  the  Gulf — the  dip  of  the  land  seems  to  be 
to  the  west  about  10°.  Bears  are  said  to  be  on  the 
shore  sometimes,  and  that  they  come  to  the  sea 
and  catch  fish.  There  are  some  places  where 
there  are  lobsters  on  the  shore — Cow  Head  is  one 
place — near  there  is  a  shoal  called  Evangeline 
shoal.  The  Bay  of  Islands  has  several  large  isl- 
ands in  it,  and  on  the  south  point  at  its  entrance 
a  high  hill  and  waterfall.  At  the  Bay  of  Islands 
some  flowers  are  cultivated — one  species  a  dark 
blue  flower. 

There  has  been  work  going  on  in  packing  cases 
for  the  American  Museum  and  other  places. 
There  are  many  boxes  of  specimens,  and  kayaks, 
and  sledges,  and  I  believe  a  skin  tent. 
September  26th,  Saturday — Got  to  the  dock  at  Sydney  at 
about  12  o'clock  noon,  and  landed  at  Harrington's 


Wharf.  We  made  the  voyage  from  Cumberland 
Sound  to  Sydney  in  seven  days  and  six  hours. 
Our  whole  journey  was  over  4,400  miles.  Our 
arrival  was  telegraphed  from  Low  Point  to  Syd- 
ney.    There  were  flags  out  in  the  town. 

Rev.  Mr.  Peck,  the  missionary  spoken  of 
(whom  we  took  on  board,  with  Mr.  Jensen,  at 
Cumberland  Sound),  on  the  evening  of  the  follow- 
ing day,  Sunday,  gave  an  account  of  the  Esqui- 
mau people,  and  of  his  life  among  them,  in  an 
Episcopal  church  (St.  George's)  at  Sydney. 


APPENDIX. 


INSCRIPTIONS  IN  THE  WHALERS'  BURYING    GROUND    AT 
NIANTILIC  WINTER  HARBOR. 

Francis  Bielle,  of  Austria. 

Schooner  Helen  F.,  H.  Palmer  Master. 

Died  Dec.  1872,  aged  27  years. 

George  White  Nurnb, 
Sch.  Franc, 
d.  Oct.  27,  18 — ,  aged  40. 
Geo.  Kenney,  Master? 

Duncan  McCauley,  died  M'ch  4th,  1887, 

on  board  Brig  Lord  Saltoun  of  Peterhead, 

aged  22.     A  native  of  Rosshire. 

Also, 

James  Kynoch,  aged  22,  belonging  to 

Old   Deer, 

and 

James  Reid,  aged  30  years  belonging 

to  Peterhead,  late  Master  of  Kickerton  Station, 

both  perished  in  a  snow  storm  about  Jan.  15th. 

Alexander  Murray,  Master. 

William  Watt,  died  Nov.  5th,  '71  ? 
in  a  snow  storm. 
Erected  by  Captain  Davidson, 
barque  Xanthus,  Peterhead,  P.  H.  D. 

George  Norrie,  d.  July  13,  1856,  aged  56  years. 
Died  on  board  ship  (?)  Traveller,  Peterhead. 


—74— 

George  Norrie,  seaman,  Peterhead, 

died  Dec.  27,  1872,  on  board  the  barque 

Xanthus,  Peterhead,  aged  25  )'ears. 

Deeply  regretted  by  all. 

James  Davidson,  Master. 

The  above  is  the  youngest  son  of  the  late 

George  Norrie  who  lies  on  the  right. 

John  Roslin,  A.B.,  a  native  of  Shetland, 

died  on  board  the  Sch.  Jumna,  of  Dundee, 

Oct.,  1859.     A.  Hay,  commander. 

Lar.  Moncrieff,  a  native  of  Shetland, 
died  on  Campbell,  186-,  aged  33  years. 

John  Roach,  d'd  at  American  Station,  1891, 
aged  6{?)3  years. 

James  Donnell  died  1861,  aged  27  years, 
on  board  brig  Georgiana. 

John  O'Brien,  d.  1861,  aged  18,  a  native 
of  Peterhead,  brig  Alert. 

John  Brown,  cooper,  aged  53  years. 

Also, 

William  Moir,  seaman  a  native  of  Dundee. 

John  Brown  belonged  to  Hull. 

also, 

Jo"   Dunnat,  Chief  Mate,  d'd  aged  32. 

All  these  died  of  scurvy,  d'd  1875,  on  the  barque  Alibi  of  Ab'd'n. 

A.  Stewart,  Commander. 

A.  Davidson  (born  in  Peterhead?)  died  1857,  37  years  old, 

on  the  Alibi,  also  (?) 

Geo.  Allan,  born  in  Ab'd'n,  d'd  aged  28. 

William  H.  Chase,  seaman,  died  on  board  schooner 
Concordia  of  Sag  Harbor,  July  28th,  1867,  25  years. 

Israel  Reid,  1877?  aged  34,  a  Native  of 

Dartmouth,  Mass.     2d  officer  of  Bark  Morning  Star, 

Capt.  Allan,  of  New  Bedford. 


APPENDIX PART    TWO. 

Page  12.  Mr.  John  Fiske,  in  his  Discovery  of  America, 
p.  156,  speaks  of  Greenland  having  been  discovered  by 
Gunnbjorn  in  A.  D.  876  ;  and  its  colonization  was  in  A.  D. 
986  ;  the  Icelandic  colony  began  at  Julianshaab  in  986,  led 
by  Lief,  son  of  Eric  the  Red,  who  took  Roman  missionary 
priests  there  from  Iceland,  and  the  colony  spread  across  to 
Godthaab  on  the  west  coast,  north  latitude  64°.  Lief  had 
become  a  Christian  and  was  baptized.  The  colony  main- 
tained its  existence  for  more  than  400  years,  having  inter- 
course with  Europe. 

Early  in  the  14th  century  the  West  Bygd,  near  Godthaab, 
seems  to  have  contained  90  farmsteads  and  4  churches  ; 
while  the  East  Bygd,  near  Julianshaab,  had  150  farmsteads, 
with  I  cathedral  and  11  smaller  churches,  2  villages,  with 
3  or  4  monasteries.  At  the  "cathedral  "  church  of  Kakor- 
tak,  a  massive  structure  of  the  Gardar  bishopric,  now  in 
ruins,  the  Credo  was  intoned  and  censers  swung  while  ten 
generations  lived  and  died.  In  11 12  Eric  Gnupson  was 
appointed  by  Pope  Paschal  II.  bishop  of  Greenland. 
Bishop  Eric  is  mentioned  in  at  least  six  different  vellums 
as  going  in  search  of  Vinland  in  1121.  Vinland  is  supposed 
to  have  been  North  America.  In  1349  the  West  Bygd  was 
attacked  and  destroyed  by  Esquimaux  ;  in  1379  they  in- 
vaded the  East  Bygd  and  wrought  sad  havoc,  and  it  is 
believed  that  some  time  after  1409  they  completed  the  de- 
struction of  the  colony,  which  gradually  fell  into  oblivion. 
Precisely  when  and  how  it  perished  we  do  not  know. 

Greenland  was  again  discovered,  by  the  Danes,  in  1595. 

Page  15.  Soundings  of  1750  fathoms,  two  miles,  have 
been  made. 


-76- 
Page  27.  Herr  Justitsraad  C.  S.  M.  Olrik  has  been  made 
Knight  of  Dannebrog  for  his  services. 

Page  32.  There  are  beds  of  coal  at  Godhavn,  and  in  the 
rock  strata  at  Disko  Island  there  is  coal. 

The  cryolite  (soda)  mine  at  Ivigtut  on  the  west  coast  of 
South  Greenland  has  been  leased  by  the  Danish  Govern- 
ment to  a  Pennsylvania  company. 

Page  50.  Angekok — this  is  in  northern  Greenland 
among  the  Arctic  Highlanders,  who  seem  to  have  little,  if 
any  religion.  They  are  north  of  Upernavik,  above  the 
Danish  possessions. 

Page  52.  Many  years  are  required  to  melt  a  monolith 
iceberg  two  miles  long  and  200  feet  high.  Literally  ice 
mountain,  with  great  depth  below  the  water.  It  has  been 
recorded  that  the  Karajat  glacier  is  about  4  miles  wide 
and  that  it  moves  from  32  to  38  feet  in  a  day.  Dr.  Rink 
thinks  that  some  of  the  Greenland  glaciers  move  51  feet 
daily  in  the  summer  and  that  icebergs  are  then  discharged 
from  them. 

Page  53.  Hans  Egede,  that  noble  missionary,  landed  at 
what  is  now  Godthaab  with  his  wife  and  children  and 
established  a  mission  in  July,  1721.  The  Esquimaux  who 
are  now  in  Danish  Greenland  are  said  to  be  all  nominally 
Christians,  2000  of  them  being  connected  with  Moravian 
missions  and  8000  with  Lutheran  churches.  There  are 
numerous  native  catechists  and  schoolmasters. 

Page  56.  Godhavn  is  Good  Haven.  Godthaab  is  Good 
Hope.  Godhavn  is  also  called  Lievely  by  Englishmen. 
It  is  said  that  a  foreigner  cannot  remain  long  here  without 
special  permission  from  one  of  the  inspectors. 

Page  59.  A  lead  is  a  lane  of  open  water  between  pieces 
of  ice.  Epes  Sargent,  Esq.,  in  "Wonders  of  the  Arctic 
World." 


—77— 

Page  64.  The  population  of  Greenland  is  about  7000. 
Lieut.  Peary  thinks  there  may  be  towards  750,000  square 
miles  in  Greenland  with  four-fifths  covered  by  inland  ice. 

Page  66.  It  is  stated  that  the  mountains  of  the  west 
coast  near  Umanak  Fjord,  north  latitude  71°,  are  5000  to 
7000  feet  high,  and  some  travellers  have  reported  peaks  at 
Cape  Farewell,  on  the  south  coast,  8000  to  loooo  feet  high. 
The  Petermann  peaks  have  been  calculated  at  7000  to 
1 1000  feet  above  the  sea. 


APPENDIX PART    THREE. 

From  the  Moravian  History  of  Greenland,  by  David 

Crantz,  this  list  of  the  Bishops  of 

Greenland  is  taken. 

1.  Eric,  even  before  1120,  was  appointed  by  Pope  Paschal 
II,  but  he  was  not  regularly  installed  bishop,  neither  had 
he  any  episcopal  seat.  He  mostly  went  up  and  down  the 
country  edifying  the  churches  and  at  last  went  to  Wineland 
to  convert  the  heathen  there,  North  America,  as  is  men- 
tioned in  six  different  vellums. 

2.  Arnold,  1121.  He  was  afterward  the  first  Bishop  of 
Hammer  in  Norway. 

3.  Jonas  I,  1150, 

4.  Jonas  II,  1 188. 

5.  Helgo,  1212. 

6.  Nicholas,  1234. 

7.  Olaus,  1246.  Under  this  bishop  three  Greenland  dep- 
uties. Odd,  Paul  and  Lief,  either  made  peace  with,  or  sub- 
mitted to,  the  Kings  of  Norway.  This  bishop  also  assisted 
at  the  consecration  of  Hakon,  archbishop  of  Drontheim. 

8.  Thordar  or  Theodorus,  1288. 

9.  Arno,  1314. 


-78- 

10.  Jonas  the  bald,  1343. 
So  far  Torfaeus'  Roll  goes. 

Baron  Holberg,  in  his  history  of  the  Kingdom  of  Den- 
mark, adds  the  following  out  of  the  Danish  chancellor  and 
historian  Huitfeld. 

11.  Alpho,  in  whose  days  the  Skraellings  or  wild  Green- 
landers  were  first  seen  here  in  this  country.  (Greenland  is 
referred  to  by  the  missionary  Pastor  Krantz,  B.  H.) 

12.  Berthold. 

13.  Gregory. 

14.  Andrew. 

15.  John. 

16.  Henry.  He  is  said  to  have  been  at  the  assembly  of 
the  nobles  called  together  by  King  Olaus  at  Nyborg,  in 
Fuenen,  in  1388,  where  he  and  other  bishops  procured 
several  exemptions  for  the  churches  and  cloysters.  But 
as,  about  this  time,  the  voyages  to  Greenland  were  given 
over,  and  as  no  further  account  was  heard  from  thence, 
therefore  Askill,  archbishop  of  Drontheim  (Norway,  B.  H.) 
ordained, — 

17.  Andrew,  bishop  of  Greenland  in  the  year  1408  and 
sent  him  thither  to  supply  Bishop  Henry's  place  in  case 
he  was  dead,  but  we  have  no  account  whether  he  arrived 
there,  or  how  it  went  with  him. 

After  that  Greenland  was  no  more  thought  of  for  a  long 
time,  but  yet  the  Danish  clergy  never  forgot  it  quite,  for 
we  find  a  document  dated  1533,  in  which  the  suffragan 
bishop  of  Roschild  subscribed  himself  bishop  of  Green- 
land. 

From  Krantz  also,  p.  257,  'tis  probable  the  present 
Indians  about  Newfoundland  may  be  descended  from 
Norwegians  in  America — Torfaeus  says  Skraellings,  an- 
cestors of  modern  Greenlanders,  first  appeared  in  1549. 


■79- 


APPENDIX PART     FOUR. 


From  Gray's  Botany  ;  Rink  ;   Prof.  Daniel  C.  Eaton's 

Lists  Published   in  Scientific  American  ; 

Encyclopedia  Brittanica,  etc. 

The  fauna  of  Greenland  include  our  own  animals,  the 
dog,  bear,  fox,  reindeer  ;  Arctic  hares  and  Polar  bears  are 
frequent. 

Of  birds  are  the  falcon,  eagle,  owl,  robin,  warbler,  red- 
wing, wagtail,  lark,  snow  bunting,  raven,  starling,  ptar- 
migan, rail,  lapwing,  coon,  bittern,  plover,  sandpiper, 
snipe,  curlew,  Arctic  tern,  gull,  petrel,  puffin,  grebe,  duck, 
eider,  teal,  widjeon,  goose  and  swan — and  many  different 
local  species  are  seen. 

The  fishes  are  salmon,  trout,  halibut,  codfish,  etc.,  among 
many  varieties  peculiar  to  the  Arctic  regions,  as  whales, 
narwhals,  walruses,  etc.  The  Molluscs  are  rare  and 
unique.  The  Algae,  fungi  lichens,  ferns  and  mosses,  are 
all  rich  in  form  and  color.  Of  insects  and  butterflies  one 
finds  many  of  interest. 

The  plant  life  of  Greenland  is  dwarfed  and  sparse,  but 
some  small  hardy  plants  bloom  faithfully  in  favorable  and 
sheltered  spots,  making  a  carpet  of  rich  hues.  The  crow- 
berry  or  curlewberry  is  most  abundant — a  juicy  black  fruit 
like  the  whortleberry,  and  grows  all  along  the  Labrador 
coast.  Also  the  crowberry,  bilberry,  cloudberry,  and  the 
cress  are  used  for  food.  The  archangelica  has  stalks  like 
celery  and  is  brittle  and  sweet — tasting  like  carrots.  Ice- 
land moss  is  common,  and  with  seaweeds  it  is  eaten.  Of 
flowering  plants  are  dwarf  roses,  azalea,  primrose,  pink, 
buttercup,  orchis,  rhododendron,  heath,  sedge,  rush,  cam- 
panula, arnica,  crowfoot,  alder,  juniper,  and  a  four-sided 


— 8o— 

shrub  like  a  small  fir  tree.  Dr.  Rink  found  flowering 
plants  growing  4,500  and  4,700  feet  above  the  sea. 

In  some  places  a  peaty  turf  is  used  for  fuel. 

The  fossils  show  that  in  the  Miocene  period  at  70°  north 
latitude  the  climate  of  Greenland  was  about  the  same  as 
that  of  Geneva  and  Lausanne*  now.  Its  forests  were  firs, 
sequoias,  oaks,  plantains,  elms,  magnolias  ;  laurels,  poplars 
and  lindens,  and  swamp  cypress  were  found  as  high  as  79°. 

Among  the  Greenland  minerals  are  quartz,  felspar, 
mica,  pumice  stone,  soapstone,  garnet,  beryl,  tourmaline, 
dolomite,  fluor  spar,  cryolite,  alum,  sulphate  of  iron,  sparry 
iron  ore,  iron  stone,  tin  stone,  magnetic  iron  ore,  magnetic 
pyrites,  graphite,  coal  and  retinite,  serpentine,  cobalt  ore, 
and  sulphur. 


APPENDIX. 

Page  36.  The  winch  or  windlass  "  shanty  "  is  a  sailor's 
chorus. 

Page  34.  "Mount  Hoppin,"  on  Meteor  Island,  is  675 
feet  high,  with  overhanging  cliffs,  giving  a  grand  view. 
There  is  snow  on  the  top  ;  five  glaciers  can  be  counted 
from  the  summit,  and  there  is  one  on  the  back  of  the 
Mount. 

Page  14.  The  atmosphere  of  Greenland  is  said  to  be 
wonderfully  clear  and  transparent,  and  great  distances  can 
be  seen  as  if  close  at  hand — twenty  miles  seeming  near  by. 
The  mirage  is  remarkable  from  the  unequal  density  of  the 
air  leading  one  to  see  imaginary  objects  and  delusions. 

Page  25.  The  Arctic  currents  are  a  great  force  in 
changing  the  waters  of  the  ocean,  and  bringing  floods  from 
the  tropics  to  the  Pole.  There  is  said  to  be  open  water 
somewhere  all  through  the  year. 

*  In  Switzerland,  Europe, — B.  H. 


— 8i— 

Page  53.  These  three  trips  to  Greenland  were  made  in 
1S93,  1894,  and  1896.  The  first  was  in  July  and  August  on 
the  Schooner  "Zeta,"  Capt.  Hebb,  an  expedition  organized 
by  the  experienced  Captain,  James  Farquhar,  of  Halifax, 
who  is  so  well  known  to  commanders  and  yachtsmen, 
going  as  far  north  as  Upernavik,  the  most  northern  civ- 
ilized settlement  in  tlie  world. 

The  second  trip,  in  1894,  on  the  S.  S.  "  Miranda,"  Capt. 
W.  J.  Farrell,  was  planned  by  Dr.  Frederick  A.  Cook,  and 
reached  Sukkertoppen,  between  Godhaab  and  Holstein- 
borg.  The  ship  being  disabled  by  striking  on  hidden 
rocks,  was  abandoned,  and  the  passengers  and  crew  were 
brought  in  safety  to  North  Sydney,  C.  B.,  on  the  Schooner 
"  Rigel,"  Capt.  Geo.  W.  Dixon. 

The  third  trip  was  on  the  S.  S.  "  Hope,"  Capt.  John 
Bartlett,  as  related  in  this  Diary. 


ERRATA. 


'.      2, 

ine  26. 

3. 

"       5- 

'     4. 

"       8. 

'     4, 

"     25. 

'     5. 

"      10. 

'     7. 

2. 

10, 

'     16. 

10, 

'     29. 

12, 

'     16. 

14. 

'       2S. 

18, 

•       26. 

19. 

'     17- 

20, 

'     M- 

20, 

'     17- 

20, 

'     21. 

22, 

'       9. 

23, 

'       9- 

23, 

'     10. 

23, 

'     21. 

27, 

'     12 

28, 

29. 

30, 

2. 

30, 

'       3 

Omit  second  word  Museum. 

Read  here  and  elsewhere  for  St.  Johns,  St.  John's. 

For  Franklin,  N.  Y,,  read  Franklin,  Indiana. 

For  White  Bay.  read  White  Strait. 

Read  here  and  elsewhere  Waigat  Strait  for  W.  Channel. 

Add  :  The  cubs  were  carried  on  the  ship  all  the  way  to 
the  north  and  back  to  Sydney,  C.  B.  They  were  then 
sent  to  the  Zoological  Garden  at  Washington,  D.  C, 
U.  S.  A.  They  had  grown  to  be  pretty  good  sized 
young  bears. 

Read  fawn,  color  of  fawn  yellow. 
75  for  30  feet. 

Here  and  elsewhere  read  Godhavn. 

Read  after  Barton,  Prof.  Burton  and  Mr.  Porter,  the 
party  from  the  School  of  Technology,  Boston,  also 
Messrs.  Putnam,  Phillips  and  Dodge,  engaged  a  house. 

Small  k  in  kittiwake,  here  and  elsewhere. 

Read  Parker  Snow  Bay. 

one  sledge  had  a  runner. 

Omit  one  with. 

Period  after  corners,  and  read.  It  appeared  as  if 

Read  he  was  rescued. 

Comma  after  3^^. 

Salinometer  read  with  small  s. 

Read  village  for  town. 

Hurlbut  for  Hurlburt. 
We  did  not  attempt  to  pass. 
Near  this  was  our. 
"       78°  24'  instead  of  78°  24'   {minutes  instead  of  sec- 
onds).    Also  turned  for  turn. 

Read  gun  for  rilie. 


-S3- 

P.  31,  line  28.     Here  and  elsewhere  read   Baffin  or  Baffin's  Bay — both 
used. 
Read  plantain  for  hemlock. 

"      were  for  was. 
Add  as  Lieut.  Pear}'  said,  about  7  pr.  ct.  nickel. 
Add  here,  after  A  cliff  of  ice. 
Read  We  had  started. 

"      They  had  left, 
and  23.     Read  dike  for  dyke. 

Read  The  top-gallant  yard  of  the  fore  mast  of  the  ship 
has  been,  etc. 
Esquimau  for  Esquimaux. 
Here  and  elsewhere  Cape  Shackieton. 
Read  420  fathoms,  not  30. 
Here  and  elsewhere  Kittiwake  gulls. 
Dalrymple  Rock. 
Read  The  ship  was  tied. 

1770  (?).     Omit  age  about  81. 
"      1778. 

Temperature  water  28"  for  38^. 
28"  for  38". 
Diary  for  Journal, 
west  for  south. 
Allan  Line  boat, 
after  America,  Vol.  I,  p.  157. 
after  Eric  the  Red,  His  son  Lief, 
here  and  elsewhere,  Godhaab. 
Julianeshaab,  had  190  farmsteads. 
"       Pascal  H  for  Paschal. 

Hacon  for  Hakon,  and  Thorder  for  Thordar. 

here  and  elsewhere,  Crantz  for  Krantz,  and  1386. 

Encyclopaedia  Britannica. 

chanter. 

A  hill  on  Meteor  Island.  .^    ,, 


"  33, 

"      14- 

■'   34, 

"     32. 

■  36, 

"     24. 

•'  39. 

"      22. 

••  40, 

"       6. 

"  42, 

"     27. 

"  44, 

lines  20 

■•  45, 

line  2r. 

■•  46. 

•'       9- 

•    47, 

'■     23. 

'■  4S, 

"     33- 

■•  51, 

"     21. 

•■   5', 

"      22. 

••  52, 

"         9- 

••  54, 

■'       6. 

"   54, 

"       8. 

'■  61, 

"     32, 

••  62, 

7- 

"   ^5, 

"       7. 

"  68, 

"       9- 

"  69, 

"       9- 

"   75, 

I. 

"  75. 

■'       5- 

"   75, 

7- 

••  75. 

"     12. 

"   75. 

"     iS. 

'•  77, 

"     29. 

••  78, 

8. 

"   79, 

4- 

"  80. 

"      16. 

"  80, 

"     34- 

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